Lucas Raymond doesn’t have much time to celebrate with training camp just a couple days away, but he knows just how big a deal his new eight-year, $64.6 million contract is.
Signing just days before Red Wings training camp commences in Traverse City, the 22-year-old winger said he’s celebrating with his family and friends before heading over to Michigan to embark on his fourth professional season. With such a long-term deal in place, Raymond is excited to be a part of Detroit‘s long-term future.
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“I’m happy we got it done ahead of training camp,” Raymond said Tuesday. “I mean, of course, you always wanted to get it done done as quick as possible. But, it’s the way it goes. It’s the way of the business. And like I said, just very happy we got it done.”
It was never really a question that Detroit would get Raymond signed. Holding his RFA rights and with neither side wanting to jeopardize his season, Detroit was always going to sign Raymond. It was just a matter of when.
[Read More: How Lucas Raymond’s Contract Compares to Other Young NHL Stars]
At face value, such a long wait seems like it would leave most players with some anxiety in their summer training, but Raymond compartmentalized it. He took an optimist’s approach to the extra time the negotiations gave him to work with his own trainers and coaches. Part of that plan saw him train in Germany with Moritz Seider — his friend and Red Wings co-star due for his own extension — and the coaches of Adler Mannheim, as well as his own personal skills coach Andreas Larsson of HockeyPT.
“It was a little bit different, for sure — just the uncertainty of everything and when it would get done,” Raymond explained. “Also just planning the summer with my trainers and on-ice and stuff like that. It feels like we came up with a with a good plan to treat it as a regular summer.”
Meanwhile, Raymond left the specific details of negotiations to his agents, J.P. Barry and Matt Williams of CAA. Barry ranks third among all NHL agents by contract value, and he’s known across the league for getting his clients the deals they want. As a rookie to the game of contract negotiations, having two experts to turn to made it easier for Raymond to approach negotiations without as much worry. That’s why top-end players get top-end agents.
“It was all new to me, right?” Raymond said. “Like, I’ve never been been in those kind of situations. So it was a lot of new stuff. And I think from the start, the big thing for me was that I wanted long term, I think I’ve been been pretty vocal about that, how much I like Detroit, how much I like the city, the team, and the direction we’re heading. So that was, for sure, a big thing for me, and I’m very happy we got it done.”
But even with a plan in place and top-flight representation, the stress of negotiations did appear. Raymond joked about his screen time this summer, keeping up with developments across the league and making a lot of phone calls throughout the process.
Raymond isn’t the only one excited that his contract is signed. General manager Steve Yzerman expects Raymond to more than earn his extension as he continues to grow as a hockey player.
“I think on all these long term deals on younger players, there is a little bit of projection in it,” Yzerman said Tuesday. “There’s an expectation that the player will take his game to another level, and that’s on both sides. And I’m very confident that Lucas will do that.”
[Read More: 5 Takeaways from Steve Yzerman’s Pre-Training Camp Availability]
In the end, Raymond got his contract done, and he got his wish. He’ll be a Red Wing for the foreseeable future as he’s signed until he’s 30 years old, through the majority of his prime years.
“It’s a weird feeling, for sure, but a very exciting feeling,” Raymond said about being signed for such a long term. “I think I’ve been clear from the start, when I think about Detroit, I’m extremely excited and obviously very honored as well to be able to be a Red Wing for at least eight more years.”
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