Lucas Raymond Demoted to Third Line Amid Goal Drought

Detroit Red Wings winger Lucas Raymond has scored zero goals and has recorded four assists, along with a plus/minus rating of minus-4, in six games played this season for Detroit. Raymond has been goalless for 13 straight games dating back to the 2025-26 NHL season, with his last goal coming April 2 at Philadelphia.

With him being in a goalless drought, head coach Todd McLellan demoted him from the first line to the third line on Wednesday morning during practice. Raymond being on the third line could be a wake-up call for him.

New Detroit Red Wings lines with Lucas Raymond demoted to the third line

Ansar Khan of mlive.com was at Red Wings practice on Wednesday. Viktor Arvidsson, Dylan Larkin, and Nate Danielson are the new first line after Raymond was demoted. The second line of Alex DeBrincat, Emmitt Finnie, and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard stays intact.

The new third line features Michael Rasmussen, Andrew Copp, and Raymond. The fourth line features Sheldon Dries, J.T. Compher, and Keegan Kolesar. Hopefully, this shakeup will wake up Raymond and end his goalless drought to begin the 2026-27 NHL season.

Despite being demoted to the third line, Raymond is still on the first power-play unit for now. Larkin, Arvidsson, DeBrincat, and Moritz Seider are the other players on the first power play unit for Detroit. This season, the Red Wings are converting on 20 percent of power play opportunities.

McLellan has not given up on Lucas Raymond

Keeping Raymond on the top power-play unit tracks with what McLellan said about him a day before the demotion. "He's been attempting to get more there, I think this year, than last year. He's been a little bit snakebitten; there were a couple of really good power play shots that, even in Montreal, the goaltender made an outstanding save," McLellan said, per Michael Whitaker of The Hockey News . "I think it will come for Lucas. His game has been okay. So, the scoring, it's going to happen eventually."

With the next game being against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, Oct. 15, this could be a golden chance for Raymond to end his drought. The Flyers are the team he scored his last goal against.