Players should call themselves out more often.
The playoffs may not be in play anymore, but this team still shows up and wins games.
Lucas Raymond (Sergei Belski-Imagn Images)
Since the Detroit Red Wings captain, Dylan Larkin, called himself out in a loss to the Florida Panthers, the Red Wings are 2-0. Everyone in the dressing room knew that they needed to be better. Now, for two straight games since then, they have been.
The accountability is great, but if that same urgency and responsibility had been taken earlier, there might have been a different conversation around the team.
However, with their latest victory over the Dallas Stars, the young Lucas Raymond has put himself in the same category as one of the greatest players to ever play for the Red Wings.
Raymond recorded the game-winning goal and two assists. With those assists, he crossed the 50-assist threshold on the year. He joins Henrik Zetterberg as only the second Red Wings player to do that in the last ten years.
That’s cozy company to keep.
Zetterburg had a long and productive career with the Red Wings. He played for 15-years, all of which were with the Red Wings. The seventh-round draft pick recorded 960 points in 1082 games played.
He crossed the 50-assist threshold twice and recorded 49 assists twice as well. Of Zetterburg’s 960 points, 623 of them were assists. The 2017-18 season was his last, and he finished the year with 45 assists and 56 points in 82 games.
