Detroit Red Wings

Red Wings Raymond, Berggren Talk Veleno Incident, Suspension

Raymond has spoken to Veleno since his suspension

Published

11 months ago

May 23, 2023

Bob Duff

Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond calls Joe Veleno's suspension from the World Championship 'a sad situation.'

Detroit Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond has spoken to teammate Joe Veleno since the latter was issued a suspension for the remainder of the IIHF World Championship.

“I spoke to him on the phone after it happened,” Raymond told Aftonbladet.se “What we said stays between us.”

While he’s willing to forgive his friend and fellow Red Wings player, Raymond isn’t looking to make excuses for Veleno’s actions. During Saturday’s Canada-Switzerland game, Veleno kicked the leg of Swiss captain Nino Niederreiter with his skate blade. The IIHF issued him a five-game suspension, thereby ending Veleno’s tournament.

During the Canada vs. Switzerland game this morning, Joe Veleno stomped on Nino Niederreiter with his skate. pic.twitter.com/k5uWGpaBnP

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 20, 2023

Both Raymond and Detroit forward Jonatan Berggren are playing for Sweden in the tourney and they’ve seen footage of what Veleno did.

“What happened, happened,” Raymond said. “He has to answer for that.

“I have seen and followed it. I can’t say much about it. It’s a sad situation. It was a suspension and I don’t have much more to say about it either.”

Red Wings Teammates Consider Veleno A Good Friend

Veleno is well-known to Swedish hockey fans. He played a season with Malmo in the SHL before making his Detroit debut. Both Raymond and Berggren were facing him as an opponent back then. Today, to them, he’s much more than a teammate, he’s a good friend. And they intend to stand by their friend.

“As I know him, he is a nice guy” Raymond said. “I like him very much, he is a kind friend. We have fun together and I enjoy being with him in Detroit.”