Lightning's Mikey Eyssimont Gets Dumped Onto Bench By Lucas Raymond In Early Hit Of The Year Nominee

There's a long, long way to go in this NHL season, but before we've even gotten a week into it we've got a serious contender for Hit of the Year courtesy of Detroit's Lucas Raymond on Tampa Bay's Mikey Eyssimont.

The Lighting visited Little Caesars Arena for an Atlantic Division clash, that had some serious teeth a few seasons ago. Since then the Red Wings have gone through a rebuild while the Lighting won a couple of Cups.

However, these two teams still know how to get physical.

The Red Wings had just gone up by one goal just a few minutes into the first period when Raymond decided to have Eyssimont take a seat on the wrong bench.

That hit is objectively hilarious and I feel like it's been a minute since someone has been checked so cleanly into the bench.

It was just a perfect storm of positioning and leverage, then next thing you know, Eyssimont is going ass-over-tea kettle onto the Wings bench.

Every hockey fan knows that you never want to wind up on the floor of the bench, It's just disgusting. A trough of spit and sweat. The only thing worse is winding up on the floor of the other team's bench. They aren't likely to be too helpful while you're trying to get out.

Fortunately, no one was injured by Eyssimont's blades. That can always be a bit scary when this kind of thing.

The Red Wings look like they've shown up ready to play some physical hockey this season. That could make them a surprise team to watch for in the loaded Atlantic Division.

Follow on X: @Matt_Reigle