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Player Discussion Alexis Lafrenière

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B17 Apricots said:
Laf will come into his own when he gets his man strength. Lot of different situations, 1v1s, where he tries playing a power game and you know what he's trying to do, but just can't pull it off consistently. The added strength should aid in his skating as well. Those are things that'll come in time. He's definitely a more comfortable player with KK and Chytil. More confident playing his own game rather than always looking for a veteran
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100% agree - was going to put this in the post game today but this is a better spot.

Laf is still young and doesn't have his man strength yet, eventually you'll see more of him protecting pucks in scrums and either make a great dish or somehow come out with it. Has no problem with players draped on him in front of the net. He may get knocked down but he does go to dirty areas - just keep doing more of it.

I've always thought he'd end up being an Owen Nolan type with more skill. He could do that in junior because he had a physical advantage but it's only a matter of time before he's starts doing the same at this level. It was there tonight.

Totally agree on keeping him away from the vets because he always defers. A close buddy and fan of another team even msged me about Gallant saying that about the kids always looking to pass to a vet, "you've been saying that for ages!" lol

Really hope Alexis starts putting it together...great time to start warming up.
 
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Lafreniere, despite his abysmal cold streak, is at 0.46 ppg, a career high. His assists are up, secondary as they mostly are. But it shows involvement on offense at least.

On the other hand, his goal scoring has dropped. This is, presumably, attributable to his shooting percentage falling from an unsustainable rate last year of roughly 17% (his rookie year it was this as well), back down to a below average rate of just 7% this season.

If he doubled his shooting percentage from 7 to 14%, which is not unheard of for top players, and thereby doubled his goals from 6 to 12, he would be at 27 points and 0.59 ppg, again with no PP time. Even if he was shooting at just 11%, roughly league average, he'd have three more goals and be at 0.52 ppg with no PP time.

Can't give up on this kid yet. If he has a Kakko-like leap next year we could still see very good things.

Still, moving forward it probably makes sense to operate like you have a very good player that you are working towards developing but not your MacKinnon-like superstar. Which we therefore need to still be searching for, and accumulating the assets to acquire instead of squandering them on deadline rentals which won't get us over the top.
 
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mas0764 said:
Lafreniere, despite his abysmal cold streak, is at 0.46 ppg, a career high. His assists are up, secondary as they mostly are. But it shows involvement on offense at least.

On the other hand, his goal scoring has dropped. This is, presumably, attributable to his shooting percentage falling from an unsustainable rate last year of roughly 17% (his rookie year it was this as well), back down to a below average rate of just 7% this season.

If he doubled his shooting percentage from 7 to 14%, which is not unheard of for top players, and thereby doubled his goals from 6 to 12, he would be at 27 points and 0.59 ppg, again with no PP time. Even if he was shooting at just 11%, roughly league average, he'd have three more goals and be at 0.52 ppg with no PP time.

Can't give up on this kid yet. If he has a Kakko-like leap next year we could still see very good things.

Still, moving forward it probably makes sense to operate like you have a very good player that you are working towards developing but not your MacKinnon-like superstar. Which we therefore need to still be searching for, and accumulating the assets to acquire instead of squandering them on deadline rentals which won't get us over the top.
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i dont think his shooting % drop has anything to do with it having been unsustainable or sure to rise to at least an average level by mean reversion...its that as things stand his shooting% is always going to be volatile because of the goals hes able to score and ones he isn't. last year almost all of his goals were shots in tight either digging out pucks in the blue or finishing cross crease passes kinda thing and he very rarely was taking shots from any distance. the only shot i can remember beating a goalie from outside the dots was against pitt in the playoffs...this year hes flubbed several of those backdoor / scramble in front plays where it should have been a tap in, hit some posts, got robbed, unlucky on deflections, missed every breakaway hes had etc...those are high probability chances and when they make up a sizable portion of your shots 17% when you avg under 2 shots/gm isn't unreasonable.

this year on top of having terrible luck leading to confidence taking a hit which becomes self fulfilling, he is taking slightly more shots from a little further out which have not even really threatened. and thats something he simply has to fix. hes never gonna be auston matthews, but you absolutely can improve your release, ability to get shots off quickly/in traffic, add some zip to it etc as a pro. theres certain areas that by the time you reach the nhl its not possible to improve materially, but shooting is one. right now his shot looks worse than it ever did in juniors. even with time and space he misses the net or fires a muffin into the goalies logo, hes very slow getting shots off on passes in the middle if he dusts it off before firing and they almost always end up getting blocked, hes gpt 0 confidence alone with a goalie - his breakaways are incredibly telegraphed with 0 deception and never even puts the puck in a shooting position walking in to use that as a threat..nevermind actually shooting. long story short, i actually think hes got a shot that can beat goalies somewhere in the bag, but right now hes got 0 confidence in it and you can see it. hell even in warmups if you watch him he never even tries to take real shots - just flips pucks into the net or throws no look passes across the slot to no one. to me thats a big priority for him to work on because its something hes gonna need if hes ever going to put up real points...just as important as gaining a step. he loves making those cross ice passes and passing the puck in general which is great, but the only way it ever actually works consistently is if you make teams and goalies respect your shot. to this point in the season i dont think theres anyone whos had a worse shot than him overall, even sammy blais whos taken almost none but does have more zip. his only competition at the moment might be libor and igor probably isnt too far behind. he should be staying on the ice most days just working on all kinds of shooting drills. he has to find some confidence in it and hes gotta get better at getting shots off that can challenge goalies who have eyes on it
 
2014nyr said:
i dont think his shooting % drop has anything to do with it having been unsustainable or sure to rise to at least an average level by mean reversion...its that as things stand his shooting% is always going to be volatile because of the goals hes able to score and ones he isn't. last year almost all of his goals were shots in tight either digging out pucks in the blue or finishing cross crease passes kinda thing and he very rarely was taking shots from any distance. the only shot i can remember beating a goalie from outside the dots was against pitt in the playoffs...this year hes flubbed several of those backdoor / scramble in front plays where it should have been a tap in, hit some posts, got robbed, unlucky on deflections, missed every breakaway hes had etc...those are high probability chances and when they make up a sizable portion of your shots 17% when you avg under 2 shots/gm isn't unreasonable.

this year on top of having terrible luck leading to confidence taking a hit which becomes self fulfilling, he is taking slightly more shots from a little further out which have not even really threatened. and thats something he simply has to fix. hes never gonna be auston matthews, but you absolutely can improve your release, ability to get shots off quickly/in traffic, add some zip to it etc as a pro. theres certain areas that by the time you reach the nhl its not possible to improve materially, but shooting is one. right now his shot looks worse than it ever did in juniors. even with time and space he misses the net or fires a muffin into the goalies logo, hes very slow getting shots off on passes in the middle if he dusts it off before firing and they almost always end up getting blocked, hes gpt 0 confidence alone with a goalie - his breakaways are incredibly telegraphed with 0 deception and never even puts the puck in a shooting position walking in to use that as a threat..nevermind actually shooting. long story short, i actually think hes got a shot that can beat goalies somewhere in the bag, but right now hes got 0 confidence in it and you can see it. hell even in warmups if you watch him he never even tries to take real shots - just flips pucks into the net or throws no look passes across the slot to no one. to me thats a big priority for him to work on because its something hes gonna need if hes ever going to put up real points...just as important as gaining a step. he loves making those cross ice passes and passing the puck in general which is great, but the only way it ever actually works consistently is if you make teams and goalies respect your shot. to this point in the season i dont think theres anyone whos had a worse shot than him overall, even sammy blais whos taken almost none but does have more zip. his only competition at the moment might be libor and igor probably isnt too far behind. he should be staying on the ice most days just working on all kinds of shooting drills. he has to find some confidence in it and hes gotta get better at getting shots off that can challenge goalies who have eyes on it
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Laf does have the ability to snipe it, though.

Where has this gone from his repetoire?

 
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mas0764 said:
Laf does have the ability to snipe it, though.

Where has this gone from his repetoire?

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oh i agree...ive seen him do it. that shot was nasty. he had a ton of snipes in juniors that were far harder and more well placed than almost all of the shots hes taken in the nhl. for whatever reason he just is not taking shots like that, and theres 2 things that stand out. one is confidence...he just doesnt take shots with any conviction these days. the other is he takes too long getting them off his stick. that too might be confidence, but its the kinda thing you can work on regularly and that repetition can be what gets him to a point where he feels good about it and wants to use his shot and then starts getting some off that at least challenge goalies and then one goes in and then two etc
 
Lafreniere should continue to be a pest going forward. Drive the net, hit guys, and get into it after the whistle. Protect your teammates. He has been at his best when he plays that way, and it's an element the Rangers as a team use.

I dream for a Lafreniere-Trocheck-Othmann chirping and scoring energy line in our future
 
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He reminds me of fat thor right now.

He will be back.... and leveled up.... soon

iu
 
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McRanger92 said:
Lafreniere should continue to be a pest going forward. Drive the net, hit guys, and get into it after the whistle. Protect your teammates. He has been at his best when he plays that way, and it's an element the Rangers as a team use.

I dream for a Lafreniere-Trocheck-Othmann chirping and scoring energy line in our future
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I think the more engaged he is like this the more its just acting/reacting/instinct and the less it's confidence problems, overthinking and deferring. It's exactly the remedy for a lot of his problems.
 
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jerseyjinx94 said:
Great game from the kid tonight. 3 game point streak. Much more jump, more aggressive on the forecheck, more confident with the puck. More to give here, keep building.
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Playing like he did against the Pens in the playoffs. Still a little behind Kakko and definitely behind Chytil in the growth curve, but he is on the rise. Like Kakko, gotta look at things beyond points. And he passes the eye test a little more in recent games.

Kid is a 1OA, lets not write him off 2.5 seasons into his career.
 
Synergy27 said:
The only thing I can hold out hope for at this point is that he can figure out how to play like Draisaitl. I feel the same way about him (he has no skills that just wow you). I don’t watch him play every day, but whenever I do, I have a hard time figuring out how/why he is so good (other than the fact that he is out there with McD). He’s perhaps the ugliest skater I have ever seen.

Laf is supposed to be a nonstop motor guy with high end skill. You don’t have to be the fastest skater in the league to excel in that style, although it would help a whole lot. I see him gliding way too often, and that takes him out of the play both on and off the puck. That definitely could be a confidence thing.
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Draisatl has a hard accurate wrister, big tough to knock off his skates, able to keep control of the puck in tight around defenders. Plays well w mcdavid and not just a byproduct

Unfortunately at this point none of those attributes laf shows. Whats interesting though is watching junior highlights and even the goals laf scored at the nhl level are similar tough around the net and good at finishing (shown by his good shooting percentage in recent years) i think he doesnt go to the net enough.
 
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Synergy27 said:
Laf looks very good tonight.
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This is a kid that has to play with mojo and be involved in the flow of the game. Laffy thrives when he is released to play with instinct and do stuff. He needs to be on the puck a lot even if he makes the occasional mistake with it. Stuffing him on the third line is madness (Kid line is 2nd line in my book).
 
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He’s still far from out-of-the-woods at this point, because we’ve also seen stretches like this in the past (see - playoffs), but he’s flashing really hard right now. Hopefully he can continue to build on this and find some level of consistency. Because if he can, he’s going to be a great player for this franchise.

Also, just goes to show what playing with confidence can do for a young player like him. And vice versa too. It seems to be a feast or famine for him right now based on where his head is at. Might make sense for this organization to hire a sports psychologist to help out with this thing, because it’s for sure not Gallant helping him out mentally (or the other kids).
 
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irishlaxburger2 said:
He’s still far from out-of-the-woods at this point, because we’ve also seen stretches like this in the past (see - playoffs), but he’s flashing really hard right now. Hopefully he can continue to build on this and find some level of consistency. Because if he can, he’s going to be a great player for this franchise.

Also, just goes to show what playing with confidence can do for a young player like him. And vice versa too. It seems to be a feast or famine for him right now based on where his head is at. Might make sense for this organization to hire a sports psychologist to help out with this thing, because it’s for sure not Gallant helping him out mentally (or the other kids).
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Sports psychologist would be good. Would be nice if they hired an actual coach too.
 
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yada said:
Draisatl has a hard accurate wrister, big tough to knock off his skates, able to keep control of the puck in tight around defenders. Plays well w mcdavid and not just a byproduct

Unfortunately at this point none of those attributes laf shows. Whats interesting though is watching junior highlights and even the goals laf scored at the nhl level are similar tough around the net and good at finishing (shown by his good shooting percentage in recent years) i think he doesnt go to the net enough.
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He's not strong enough yet. When he gets his man strength and catches up physically to the league he will have an easier time of making those plays.
He and NYR should be HYPER focused on his strength/conditioning/skating this off season.

irishlaxburger2 said:
He’s still far from out-of-the-woods at this point, because we’ve also seen stretches like this in the past (see - playoffs), but he’s flashing really hard right now. Hopefully he can continue to build on this and find some level of consistency. Because if he can, he’s going to be a great player for this franchise.

Also, just goes to show what playing with confidence can do for a young player like him. And vice versa too. It seems to be a feast or famine for him right now based on where his head is at. Might make sense for this organization to hire a sports psychologist to help out with this thing, because it’s for sure not Gallant helping him out mentally (or the other kids).
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Honestly, it's only a matter of time. He's not there yet, but I really don't much doubt he will get there.
 
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