Detroit Red Wings' Lucas Raymond leaves World Championship with bronze medal
Detroit Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond's time at the 2024 World Championship ended on a winning note against a hockey powerhouse.
His Sweden bested Canada, 4-2, in Sunday's consolation game at the elite tournament in Prague, Czechia. A day earlier, Sweden fell to the host nation in the semifinals; that was the only loss of the event for the Swedes. It was Sweden’s first medal since taking the gold in 2018.
It was a storybook ending for Czechia, as the host country won gold with a 2-0 victory over Switzerland at Prague Arena. Former Wings forward Dominik Kubalik (who was part of the deal that landed the Wings Alex DeBrincat) had an assist.
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Raymond had nine points (four goals, five assists) in 10 games, and served as an alternate captain. With a roughly three-week period of downtime between the end of the NHL season and the start of the tournament, Raymond translated his torrid finish with the Wings (11 points the last six games) to an international stage in as competitive an annual environment as there is outside of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Raymond was the only Wings player to last until the final day of games. An injury waylaid Dylan Larkin before the tournament began, leaving defenseman Jeff Petry and goaltending prospect Trey Augustine to represent the Wings on the U.S. team, along with coaches Derek Lalonde and Alex Westlund. The U.S. was bounced in the quarterfinals in a 1-0 loss to Czechia, and Olli Määttä's Finland also fell in the quarterfinals, in a 2-1 overtime loss to Sweden. Moritz Seider was unable to participate because Germany could not secure the insurance needed for Seider, who is a restricted free agent due a lucrative new deal.
Sweden, the U.S., Canada, Finland and Czechia are considered the bigwigs at the annual tournament (Russia was part of the headliners until suspended due to the invasion and subsequent war in Ukraine). But other nations are serving notice: Last year it was Germany (with Seider in the lineup) that won silver, while Latvia won bronze. This year, the Swiss muscled in to take silver.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.
Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings' Lucas Raymond wins bronze at World Championship
