Lucas Raymond

Smart fast smooth winger who always has the puck from the opening bell, and has the feet, and the stick to generate scoring chance after scoring chance. Plays on both the PP and the PK. Displays terrific jump and stickhandling ability. In the Ivan Hlinka Tourney, he saw as much as 30 minutes of ice a game, and arguably was the best player in the tourney, two years before he is draft eligible. The puck finds him, and he is always around it if he isn't in possession. Has excellent hands, excellent edge control and short area quickness and terrific vision that catapults him to the upper tier of the draft class as a elite playmaker and opportunistic scorer. Displays super soft hands and high end creativity reminiscent countryman Peter Forsberg without the height and girth. Continued to fly high above the year older prospects in the World Junior Showcase, and shows high end creativity, grit, and likes contact, and compete to take pucks away from his opposition. He has accumulated 48 points in 37 outings in his country's top junior division last season. Raymond also had two goals in 10 games in the Swedish Hockey League playing against pros for the first time in 2018-19, and has five points in 16 games at the same level so far in 2019-20. Despite the less than steller showings this season, he projects as a Willie Nylander-lite in terms of his abilty to create, and enhace a NHL power play. His quick decisive reactions after surprise pucks come his way are the barometer that might get people thinking he is Mitch Marner-like.  There is enough history of his ability to quickly give and go, or scoring quickly from in tight you see that the comaprisons to three different pros just means there is a high end upisde to this unfinished canvass.

--Bill Placzek--