Player Discussion Alexis Lafrenière

[mike14]

Pure speculation, but I wonder if the Kids have gotten the message to “wait their turn” and it’s bled into their personal offseason training approach (specifically, the lack of). If you don’t throw your kids into the deep end, they will never take off their floaties.

Surely not. Don't they have agents, personnel trainers etc? Why would they accept the 'just wait your turn' mantra?
One of the many things that has amazed me about Laf's time here is the lack of voice from his 'people'. I would have thought his agent would have been making at least minor waves regrading usage, icetime, needing to change wings, and just not being a real 'face' of the team.
I am far removed from the NY media, and it's also possible that Laf has surrounded himself with people who are as laconic as he is, but I kind of just imagined a #1oA would have a camp that actively push his interests

 

[mas0764]

This should be pinned to the top of this board. The denial is pathetic.

5 years from now, the “kid line” (it shouldn’t even be called the kid line today, Chytil is in like his f***ing 8th NHL season - it’s patronizing) will string together 3 games where each of them gets a point. This board will go “tHe kiDs aRe alRight” and the narrative will shift back to the Rangers being middle of the road at drafting and developing.

We are by far the worst team in the league at it. Even f***ing Arizona can develop forwards.

Clayton Keller says hi.

Pure speculation, but I wonder if the Kids have gotten the message to “wait their turn” and it’s bled into their personal offseason training approach (specifically, the lack of). If you don’t throw your kids into the deep end, they will never take off their floaties.

I doubt they said to wait their turn specifically, but I do 100% believe they were told that the “eschew defense and trust to your skills on offense” role was all filled by Panarin and so the kids had to know their place and play defense first, second, third and fourth before ever trying to do something fancy offensively. Yeah that has an impact.

 

[ColonialsHockey10]

Clayton Keller says hi.

Keller would have 30 points if he played here.

 

[Daves a mess]

Good. Maybe he will be pissed off now, put in the work during the offseason, and show up to camp with some skills.

Or, more likely, he's just not a good hockey player.

He tries hard, but when I search for each aspect of a high end skillset, I see a sea of meh.

 

[Chaels Arms]

I'm just confused- does he or doesn't he want to earn a shit ton of money in this league?

Because the difference between 10 and 100 million in career earnings is worth a little extra effort.

I've wondered about this for him as well.

Does he know how far off course he is right now? How much potential money he is about to lose?

Or were the Rangers so successful in their bizarre indoctrination effort to "shield him from the pressure of NY" and let him just be "one of the guys" that he actually buys into that BS now? Is he content to just be in the league floating around on name recognition?

If this kid has a brain or if he has any close family, friends or advisors that can actually tell him the truth there should be DEFCON 5 alarms going off in his car, in his bedroom, everywhere.

 

[Chaels Arms]

How is this org so bad at helping young players develop.

All the money in the world. They all should have video coaches. Personal trainers. Strength coaches. Nutritionists. Chefs. Sports psychologist. etc etc.

Absolutely mind boggling. Laffy is fat. Kravtsov was a bean pole. Kakko hates himself.

Especially in a salary capped league those types of things are ways for big market teams to tilt the playing field a little bit more in their favor.

The Rangers should have someone following Lafreniere around 24 hours a day and slapping him in the face with a fly swatter if he touches a bag of chips.

 

[LokiDog]

show me the list of players that are on their entry level deal scoring 40 points......please

did he suck in the playoffs? yes. is he the reason we lost? no

Since Laf was drafted, players drafted in 2020 or later who have hit 40 points in a season:

Mercer
Stutzle
Raymond
Beniers
McTavish
W. Johnston
K. Johnson
Lundell
Jarvis

Plus Quinn (37 as a rookie), Power (35 as a rookie D)

That’s 11 players in a time span where only 3 players have been selected 1st overall. Lafreniere is not among them.

 

[Zamboner]

For the people who still think Lafreniere can put it together, what do you see as the best possible outcome for him? What type of player? What type of point production? Closest existing comparison?

All I see is a productive bottom six player, my eyes are very depressed with what it sees.

 

[Fataldogg]

For the people who still think Lafreniere can put it together, what do you see as the best possible outcome for him? What type of player? What type of point production? Closest existing comparison?

All I see is a productive bottom six player, my eyes are very depressed with what it sees.

He is no better than a solid 3rd line forward. Best case scenario, he would be a top-6 forward on a very shallow team.

 

[Barnaby]

For the people who still think Lafreniere can put it together, what do you see as the best possible outcome for him? What type of player? What type of point production? Closest existing comparison?

All I see is a productive bottom six player, my eyes are very depressed with what it sees.

Probably a 50 point middle six winger. Useful but nothing overly special.

 

[RoastBeeph]

This is pretty spot on and I think most people here would be shocked to see the dynamic between NHL coaches and their players.

The truly elite franchises likely make sure that their players are given real, concrete directions, training, nutrition, mental counseling, etc. Just because shoddy franchises do a poor job of developing their players doesn't mean the Rangers should do the same. They should be using their financial advantage to have training and support staff counts at the top of the NHL.

 

[PANARIN BREAD FAN]

next season will be his season 4 in the league at age 22. comparing him to other players in the past with this criteria he should be expected to crack at least 50 pts,, he hasn't even cracked 40 yet.

will the organization still try and see if he can gel with some combination of players from the top 2 lines? that's already been tried with to no avail. will they stick with the kid line or another season?

the way i see it it's time to disband that 3rd line. chytil should have a full opportunity to play full time with panarin. who is the 3rd guy on that line i don't know. kaako with zib n kreider.

that leaves laffy with trocheck and i don't know who-a tom wilson type or actually tom wilson but that's wishful thinking. this line could work if laff elevates his skating.

 

[qwertyaas]

Get him real trainers this summer. Forget his hometown buddies.

Get him real skating coaching. Same goes for Kakko.

And FFS, call Canada and get him on the WC team.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

Just like Kakko, I don't think Laf is a bust. But it's hard to call him anything other than a huge disappointment thus far.

 

[Greschner4]

I'm not going to pass final judgment until he gets himself in actual shape.

It's clear, though, that he isn't skilled or talented enough to be able to succeed while fat. A tiny, tiny percentage of athletes can -- he's not one of them.

He'll be out of the NHL by 26 if he persists with the Doritos and the Junior's cheesecake. He'll get one more organization that will take a shot at "unlocking his potential" and if he busts there, he's done.

 

[Pawnee Rangers]

Just like Kakko, I don't think Laf is a bust. But it's hard to call him anything other than a huge disappointment thus far.

He's more of a disappointment than Kakko. Kakko at least looks like he gives a shit.

 

[RoastBeeph]

I don't understand how laf can be so overweight when he is playing a full season. He must eat an absurd amount of calories to outweigh all the skating he does.

 

[Bacon Artemi Bravo]

I still believe Laf will be an impact player, it is very tempting to jump on the bust train but I'm not there yet. Good news about his playoff performance is that these contract negotiations should go pretty smoothly for the Rangers. Not much leverage on his side.

 

[NickyFotiu]

I was very disappointed in Laf in this series. Only way he could be worse is if he was Krav getting knocked over by the wind.

I still believe Laf will be an impact player, it is very tempting to jump on the bust train but I'm not there yet. Good news about his playoff performance is that these contract negotiations should go pretty smoothly for the Rangers. Not much leverage on his side.

My dad taught me to never give up on a guy his age BUT the coaches and management should have a real come to Jesus meeting with him. He took a small step back not forward in some ways this season.

 

[Rangers in 7]

Since Laf was drafted, players drafted in 2020 or later who have hit 40 points in a season:

Mercer
Stutzle
Raymond
Beniers
McTavish
W. Johnston
K. Johnson
Lundell
Jarvis

Plus Quinn (37 as a rookie), Power (35 as a rookie D)

That’s 11 players in a time span where only 3 players have been selected 1st overall. Lafreniere is not among them.

you just listed 9 players out of roughly 700 players drafted, all 9 have been given a way longer leash by their respected teams. 6 of those 9 players play on bottom teams in the league

For the people who still think Lafreniere can put it together, what do you see as the best possible outcome for him? What type of player? What type of point production? Closest existing comparison?

All I see is a productive bottom six player, my eyes are very depressed with what it sees.

huberdeau

 

[nevesis]

Why is anyone here calling Lafreniere fat? He's the furthest thing from that. Acting like he's Vogelbach on the Mets or even Kessell...

The kid just sucks. The scouts got it wrong about him projecting to the NHL level. He won't ever be what he should have been.

See Nail Yakupov....Daigle...etc

 

[PANARIN BREAD FAN]

He's more of a disappointment than Kakko. Kakko at least looks like he gives a shit.

kakko should have hit 50 pts by now. at least he still hit 40 so in that regard there is still some hope of him breaking out to be a 50-60 consistent pt scorer.

 

[bhamill]

I agree but Z has bought himself time on this team. I remember him being a good get because we hoped he would break out and he did.

He's got tools though, his size, skating, intelligence, passing and aforementioned shot.

Laf has nothing... no toolbox to develop for which we could HOPE for a breakout.

I'm not giving Z a pass. I'm as upset with him as the rest. I put pass in quotes for a reason.

Is Z someone I wanna see go? No probably not because we know what he's capable of.

Do I wanna see Laf go?

You bet. Because we know what he's NOT capable of.

Ah. No I don't want to see either of Zib or Laf go. Honestly we don't KNOW jack shit yet as far as the player he will become. What he is right NOW, as a 21 year old, is a physical decent 2 way 2nd/3rd liner. Again, what was Zib at 21? I absolutely still believe he will be far more. I'm still not saying he's untouchable, but dealing him now would be a sell low panic move. I don't believe we will get value, so I'm opposed to dealing him.

 

[bhamill]

I'd love Garland, he's exactly the type of player we need.

Garland didn't break 40 points till he was 24. Though he scored at a good clip in his shorter 23 year old season. This would be a terrible trade straight up.

 

[Chytilmania]

I don't understand how laf can be so overweight when he is playing a full season. He must eat an absurd amount of calories to outweigh all the skating he does.

At the end of the season it’s a little understandable with how brutal the season is. No sleep schedule, changing time zones, recovering from games. Hopped up on caffeine then needing sleeping pills to sleep after a game. It’s hard on the body.

But to come into the season fat is alarming.