By Canadian Press

‘Incredible players’: Sweden’s Raymond, Holtz ready for big season

Aug 2, 2019 | 12:28 PM

PLYMOUTH, Mich. — Lucas Raymond took a pass, cut to the middle and roofed his third goal of the game to send Sweden into a euphoria.

Somewhere in the mass of humanity that swarmed the diminutive forward back in April as his country celebrated its first under-18 world hockey title — on home soil, no less — was teammate Alexander Holtz.

“It was amazing,” Raymond recalled this week. “It doesn’t happen very often that you get to win such a big thing.”

“Incredible,” Holtz added. “And to do it on home ice, it was (even) more special.”

The pair were catalysts at that tournament, figure to be important pieces at the 2020 world junior championship in the Czech Republic and are expected to go high, perhaps both in the top three, at next year’s NHL draft.

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Raymond and Holtz. Holtz and Raymond. Expect to hear those names linked together for a long time.

“We knew they were really talented,” Swedish head coach Tomas Monten said. “What helps their game is they work really hard, they skate (and) they’re not afraid of playing in the dirty areas.

“They’re going to get some extra attention. Everyone knows that they’re skilled, that they’re players to watch out for.”

The 17-year-old wingers, who usually play on the same line, are in suburban Detroit this week at the World Junior Summer Showcase for a series of practices and games against the United States, Canada and Finland as the countries swing preparations for the 2020 event into high gear.

Holtz and Raymond are also getting their first real taste of speaking with North American reporters, something they’ll have to get used to at the world juniors and ahead of the draft.

“We talked to them a little bit before coming here,” Monten said. “We went through this with (2018 No. 1 pick) Rasmus (Dahlin) two years ago. If they want any special help, just ask us.”

“It’s good to talk to the media,” Holtz said. “You have to do it.”

But they won’t live under the same microscope as Jack Hughes, who went first at the most recent NHL draft, or presumptive 2019 No. 1 pick Alexis Lafreniere. That’s because instead of playing junior hockey in Canada or the U.S. this season, Raymond (Frolunda) and Holtz (Djurgardens) will remain with their professional clubs back home in Sweden.

The five-foot-10, 165-pound Raymond is more of a playmaker, while Holtz — at six feet and 183 pounds — is often characterized as the tandem’s finisher, even though the former scored three times in the under-18 final against Russia.

Raymond had 13 goals and 48 points in 37 outings with Frolunda’s top junior team in 2018-19, while Holtz registered 30 goals and 47 points in 38 games for Djurdgardens in the same division. Both teens also spent stints playing against men in the pros in Sweden’s top league, the SHL.

“Incredible players,” said defenceman Philip Broberg, drafted eighth overall by Edmonton in June. “Really important for this team. Just really good guys to be around.

“They’re really good, humble people.”

Sweden has won just two gold medals at the world juniors (1981 and 2012), but Monten said having the upcoming under-20 tournament, which gets underway Dec. 26, back in Europe on wider international ice after three straight years in North America should benefit his players.

“You’ve got to play a little bit more of a puck-possession game,” he said. “We’re going to try to use the size of the ice to our advantage.”

Raymond and Holtz are doing their best to avoid draft talk, but it’s difficult in 2019 when lists and prognostications are already out and readily available as observers guess where hockey’s next crop of potential stars might wind up.

“I’m trying not to think about it,” Raymond said. “It’s tough because of all the social media.”

Lafreniere, who is part of the Canadian setup at the summer showcase in Plymouth, looks to be the top choice as it stands now — granted, a lot can change — ahead of the 2020 draft in Montreal.

But the two Swedes are hoping to nudge into the conversation.

“Yeah of course!” Holtz said with a big grin. “Every player wants to go first overall.”

Only six of their countrymen have ever been taken in the top three at the NHL draft — Mats Sundin (No. 1 in 1989), Daniel and Henrik Sedin (No. 2 and No. 3 in 1999), Victor Hedman (No. 2 in 2009), Gabriel Landeskog (No. 2 in 2011) and Sandin last year.

Raymond and Holtz could very well add to that list next June, but will do their best to block out the noise until then.

“They know that they’re going to get drafted,” Monten said. “They can only play and only do their thing.

“Then others decide where they go.”

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Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press