On a New York Rangers team with so much high-end talent like Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox, Vincent Trocheck and Chris Kreider, one player who gets lost in the shuffle is Alexis Lafreniere.
The 2020 No. 1 overall pick didn’t eclipse the 40-point mark in his first three NHL seasons after scoring over 100 points in back-to-back seasons in the QMJHL, but in 2023-24, he’s taken big steps in his development, scoring 26 goals and 28 assists for 54 points in 76 games.
During Wednesday’s bloody and brutish game between the Rangers and New Jersey Devils, Lafreniere found a way to showcase some of that skill, scoring a goal and an assist to help the Blueshirts win 4-3.
On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss Lafreniere’s performance and how high the ceiling is for the Rangers’ forward.
Tyler Yaremchuk: One guy who stood out in Wednesday’s game between the Rangers and Devils was Alex Lafreniere. Johnny Lazarus of Morning Cuppa Hockey often says that Lafreniere will be a 100-point player. It won’t happen this year, but he’s inching his way to the 60-point mark this season. As this year’s gone on, he’s continued to show a lot of improvement. His points-per-game is 0.71, but since Feb. 1, it’s 0.98.
He’s continued to look better and better, and he’s an important part of this Rangers’ forward group going into the playoffs.
Frank Seravalli: He is and I love the slow burn that he’s built his career. He’s been written off, counted out and quietly done the work. It’s come in fits and starts, he’s had moments where you’ve seen the flash. There’s been a sticktoitiveness where he’s confident that he can be a significant player in this league.
It’s taken a while to get to this point. It’s difficult when we see Connor Bedard and Auston Matthews and all these No. 1 overall picks light the league on fire. Just because you were taken first overall, it doesn’t mean you have the ability to translate your game to the NHL. One of the biggest things when watching him is, obviously he has the skill, but he doesn’t skate as fast as those other players. That doesn’t mean he can’t be a good player, and I think it’s premature that we started to call him a bust.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…
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