The Red Wings stocked their cupboard up front Tuesday night — Steve Yzerman, in his second year as GM, selected forward Lucas Raymond out of Frölunda (SHL).

Raymond is already off to a  hot start in the Sweden’s top league with a couple of points in four games, but the hockey world saw what Lucas Raymond can really do at the last WJC. Raymond made his break into professional hockey last year — he put up 10 points in 33 games after lighting up the J20 SuperElit. Here’s what Future Considerations is saying:

“Raymond is an elite offensive talent that has the right hockey IQ to play a strong two-way game. He is a very high-end skater that excels in all areas of skating from having the ability to make short, quick cuts to pos- sessing a top speed that blows most out of the water and terrific edges that he uses to elude de- fenders offensively. He has a fantastic speed and agility com- bined with a great puckhandling and creativity, which makes it hard for defenders to keep up with him.” - 2020 Future Considerations Draft Guide

The speculation can finally rest.

There were a lot of rumors that Detroit was looking at going defense, or even goalie with the 4th pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. At the end of the day, Steve Yzerman took the breakout Swedish winger as his 4th-overall counterpart.  Raymond is thought to be a strong two-way player with a ton of offensive flare to burn. We saw examples of it at the WJC:

Lucas Raymond, welcome to Dangle City! 🔥🔥 @Trekronorse #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/4iIaHbQ9VG

— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) January 5, 2020

What I think is really interesting about Lucas Raymond is that he’s playing in Sweden’s top league, and has been for a while now — even at a young age. He doesn’t get the lion’s share of ice time as a winger in Frölunda. Last season, he averaged under 10 minutes per game. When you compare that to his production, you see that he has something that makes him a special offensive talent.

Highlights

Another fun fact.. Lucas Raymond is the third player the Red Wings have taken out of Frölunda in the last two drafts:

De tre senast draftade Frölundaspelarna,

Lucas Raymond som #4 totalt 2020,
Gustav Berglund som #177 totalt 2019,
Elmer Söderblom som #159 totalt 2019.

Gemensamt? Samtliga har blivit tingade av Detroit Red Wings.

— Frölunda Indians (@frolunda_hc) October 6, 2020

How do you feel about Lucas Raymond at 4th overall?