Detroit Red Wings
Raymond Gets Paid by Red Wings
Detroit pays leading scorer $8.075 million
Lucas Raymond will be a Detroit Red Wings player for the next eight seasons. He’s in agreement with the team on an eight-year deal with an AAV of $8.075 million.
It’s undoubtedly more than GM Steve Yzerman was originally expecting to be paying to the 22-year-old left-winger. However, in the long run, it may pay dividends.
RAY IS HERE TO STAY 🪒
The #RedWings have signed Lucas Raymond to an eight-year contract with an AAV of $8,075,000. pic.twitter.com/Z0QHtO9K1R
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 16, 2024
By getting Raymond to lock into a long-term pact, if the NHL salary cap keeps climbing as anticipated, then at some point in the duration of this deal, it’s going to seem like Raymond is underpaid.
Looking at comparables, already, his cap hit is lower than Ottawa Senators forward Tim Stutzle ($8.35 million) but higher than Seth Jarvis of the Carolina Hurricanes ($7.42 million).
No one can debate that Raymond didn’t do his part in order to get paid. As Detroit was battling for a playoff spot down the stretch of the 2023-24 NHL season, he was stepping up and delivering the goods.
The man the Red Wings call Razor was razor sharp. He was accounting for seven goals and five assists in Detroit’s final eight regular-season games. He would score 14 goals over the last 18 Red Wings games.
“Now do the Lucas Raymond tweet.” 😏 pic.twitter.com/lvuTLHorYL
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 16, 2024
In his third NHL season, Raymond led the club with a career-high 72 points. He also ascended to the 30-goal plateau for the first time, netting 31 times.
How Much Will Red Wings Pay Seider?
Now the final question left for Yzerman to answer is what will he be paying his remaining restricted free agent, defenseman Moritz Seider?
Earlier in the day Monday, the Red Wings were locking up forward Jonatan Berggren on a one-year pact with an AAV of $825,000. Add in Raymond’s $8.075 cap hit and that leaves Detroit with $8,748,194 in cap space.
The speculation is that no one will be given a salary higher than the $8.7 AAV of captain Dylan Larkin. So that probably slots Seider, the 2021-22 Calder Trophy winner, in at around $8.6 million.
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1 down and 1 to go. 😁
Wow, you mean Yzerman did his job! Didn’t lose any players and working within the salary cap. What can I panic about know?
lol exactly.
I always love the hypocrisy of NHL fans.
When it’s a player who isn’t a Red Wing it’s “What a bargain! He’s worth every penny! GM hit a home run!”
But when it’s the Red Wings it’s “Paid too much too soon! Horrible deal! Yzerman should be fired!”
Cheer for the laundry.
I’ll patiently wait for the overreaction of the Seider deal.
I can only imagine the stupidity from other fanbases.
“Seider isn’t worth that! He’s overpaid! Yzerman is running his team into the ground!”
See, it’s ok for my team to sign my best players to long term contract extensions.
But if you do the same thing then you’re a complete moron. 😆
Good points.
In the past the Wings liked to have a bit of open cash under the cap to use just in case a helpful player might come onto the market. I’m going to guess that they still want that option and that Seider is the sort of player who’d structure his contract to allow that to happen.
Agreed. Seider doesn’t strike me as a “I need to bleed my team dry guy.” He wants a fair deal and I’m sure he’ll get it.
Raymond signing is a good indication Seider will be signing soon in my opinion.
They’re pretty much brothers.
Yzerman must realize he’s not Tampa’s GM anymore so he can’t get these sweetheart deals like he did.
The Tampa “no state tax”, great weather, top team…
Plus Yzerman seems to play hardball and when a comparable player gets signed (Hintz before Larkin) and (Jarvis before Raymond) the price goes up.
Signing players to long term deals is all about comparables.
Kevin Allen always says Yzerman doesn’t operate that way.
But he has to and it’s obvious he has because that’s how player agents like Claude Lemieux (Seider’s agent) work.
I’m glad Yzerman does play hardball because Holland certainly didn’t.
It’s needed in a Cap world.
You can argue Yzerman hasn’t played hardball at all when it comes to signing UFAs. 😬
But Detroit isn’t a destination team yet so maybe that comes as they make the playoffs and start competing for a Cup in a few years?
Excellent thoughts. Loving these posts.
Detroit IS a destination for players who really fit here.
Nope. That’s for real Cup contenders.
Michigan born players maybe.
I guess the question arises, was it panic or just fan excitement and looking forward to it being done? To me, the later one. And that is what it was from the fanbase. That is perfectly normal and actually shows their support.
There are stars who are all about being stars and then there are stars who’s character somehow outshines their ability. Yzerman knows the difference first hand and knows which he is dealing with at contract time. He has a long memory too. Right now you should see the future of one of those two.