Lucas Raymond

Last Season

Twenty-five goals and 51 assists in 80 games — 76 points, plus-one, at 18:48 a night with seven power-play goals.

The Finesse Game

The hands and the vision are the reasons he went fourth overall, and both have arrived. Fifty-one assists is a first-line playmaker’s number, and the good ones are made at speed through a closing gap.

The shooting is the part to watch. Only 31 per cent of his unblocked attempts came from inside twenty feet and 32 per cent from beyond forty, with a median of 32 — the furthest out of any Detroit forward except DeBrincat, and DeBrincat has a release that justifies it.

Twenty-seven goals came anyway. More would come from ten feet closer.

The Physical Game

Five foot eleven, 186, and light. Twenty-two penalty minutes in 80 games. He does not win pucks by force and does not go to the net front, which is the same limitation his shot chart describes from the other direction.

The Intangibles

Forty-nine point four per cent of the expected goals, 47th percentile — dead average, in top-line minutes, on a club that was slightly below average as a whole.

Seven points in his last ten. He is 24, 330 points into 400 games, and the second-best forward on this roster.

The honest question is whether a hundred-point season is in here. On this evidence it needs either a harder shot chart or a linemate who takes the punishment for him.