Lucas Raymond’s new contract might just be a steal.
After a long offseason of negotiations, the Detroit Red Wings and 22-year-old winger Lucas Raymond agreed to an eight-year extension carrying a $8,075,000 AAV. For a pillar of the present and future roster, getting this deal done was one of the two most important tasks this summer. But more so than just getting a pen to paper, Detroit’s patient approach also led to a favorable deal for the team. Especially in the context of some similar players, there’s a lot to like about Raymond’s deal.
While the team itself announced the term and cap hit of Raymond’s deal, NHL insider Pierre LeBrun broke the specific details of the contract for The Athletic. Raymond’s deal does not include a signing bonus, nor does the exact salary fluctuate between contract years. Raymond’s final four years of the deal — that is, starting in 2028-29 — include a 10-team no-trade clause.
In order to get a sense of how valuable this deal might be for the Red Wings, let’s compare Raymond’s new deal to those of similar NHL stars including Seth Jarvis, Tim Stutzle and Matt Boldy.
Given that they are both young scoring wingers with similar production, Raymond and Jarvis were frequent comparisons for each other this summer. Jarvis’ deal got done first — an eight-year deal with a cap hit of $7,420,087. Now that the ink has dried on Raymond’s deal, there are multiple similarities between the contracts.
For one, both stars chose the security of a long-term deal instead of trying to hit a bigger free agency jackpot by signing a bridge deal. Jarvis, too, has a modified no-trade clause that kicks in after 2028.
Where the two deals differ is the exact cap hit, as well as how that money is distributed. Jarvis’ contract shaved around $400,000 off its cap hit by using deferred compensation. This means the Hurricanes will pay Jarvis one of his signing bonuses after the completion of the contract. In other words, that chunk of salary doesn’t count against the cap. And if you were wondering it’s totally legal — for now.
If we take Jarvis’ deal into consideration without that deferred compensation, his cap hit falls closer to the $7.82 million mark, which is remarkably similar to what Raymond just signed.
In terms of what each team is paying for, the value of Raymond’s contract becomes evident by comparison. Jarvis’ big 67-point season in 2023-24 was a breakout year, but the previous two seasons weren’t so impactful. In fact, even in Raymond’s sophomore slump in 2022-23 that saw him produce just 45 points, he still outproduced Jarvis. In the case of Raymond, the resume informing the contract is a lot stronger, but the difference in salary earned isn’t so vast. Depending on how the two shake out through the duration of their contracts, Raymond could prove to be the better bargain
