Major turn of events for Red Wings' Lucas Raymond

While the Detroit Red Wings missed the playoffs, not every player on the team decided that it was time to stop playing for the rest of the summer, and among those players was forward Lucas Raymond.

Raymond decided to represent his native Sweden on the international stage, suiting up for the Swedish squad in the 2025 IIHF World Championship.

He continues to demonstrate his skills as a top-line player, scoring twice in Sweden's 5-2 win over Czechia and giving him 4 goals overall so far.

Raymond and the rest of Sweden have now advanced to face the Americans later on Saturday in the Semi Finals.

Raymond scored a new career-best 80 points this year for the Red Wings, who once again missed out on securing a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the 9th straight year, which is now officially the longest in team history.

Yzerman and the rest of the management team decided that Raymond, who was taken with the 4th pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft by the Red Wings, was a foundational building block and signed him to a new 8-year extension before the start of this season.

Along with Raymond, the Red Wings also re-signed Moritz Seider to a similar deal, showing their commitment to the pair of young players that they are trusting to help lead them to the next level.

Raymond routinely found himself playing on Detroit's top line, usually next to captain Dylan Larkin. In addition to the Red Wings, Raymond also played for Sweden during the 4 Nations Faceoff in February, one of several Detroit players to get the invitation from their respective nation.