Player Discussion Alexis Lafrenière

[rangersfansince08]

Oh, it could be a trade... a bad one for NYR IMO. Caufield is a one dimensional goal scorer. He has fewer goals than Laf. He could turn into a 30-35 goal scorer with some luck, and a lot of PP time, which a goal scoring player will get as they mature, but that's all you're going to get. IMO Laf will give you about as many goals and a whole lot more. But it remains to be seen. I found it just as ridiculous to see this board calling Cole a bust as I do seeing them call Laf one. It's nuts. Hahaha.
I'm betting the ONLY GM in this league that would make that trade is Montreal's...

I wouldn't make it either but it looks a lot more reasonable now. Caufield outscoring Laf by 9 pts in 13 less games.
It is ridiculous to say he is a one dimensional goal scorer though when he has more than 3x as many assists as Laf.

 

[bhamill]

I wouldn't make it either but it looks a lot more reasonable now. Caufield outscoring Laf by 9 pts in 13 less games.
It is ridiculous to say he is a one dimensional goal scorer though when he has more than 3x as many assists as Laf.

Fair enough, but that IS the scouting report and expectation on him. I do like him though and hope he proves the scouts wrong.
BTW, at even strength Laf is outscoring Caufield, albeit in more games.

 

[rangersfansince08]

Fair enough, but that IS the scouting report and expectation on him. I do like him though and hope he proves the scouts wrong.
BTW, at even strength Laf is outscoring Caufield, albeit in more games.

Laf was buzzing for like 10 games but seems to have cooled down recently

 

[bhamill]

Watching the games I think he looks very good, looking at the boxscore you don't see him. It's subjective I suppose. Myself, I'm not worried.

 

[Peltz]

Laf was buzzing for like 10 games but seems to have cooled down recently

I only feel like he was cooled down last night. The game prior he was still buzzing.

 

[bl02]

It's good enough to support Shestyorkin and lead to a tremendous win-loss record, the ultimate arbiter of regular season success. If you float free and true looking only for offensive opportunities in this style, you'll be benched after one period.

This has to be it. No doubt playing for a team pushing for the playoffs makes you think team first (smart/d first play). This has to be it. I mean he has 18 points playing on the first line.

 

[2014nyr]

Laf was buzzing for like 10 games but seems to have cooled down recently

agree, dont think its all on him though. hes remained active and supporting pucks - the whole line has been part of this. not seeing the breakouts with all 3 playing off each other. havent seen them throw it down for kreider to win a race, havent seen laf and mika come up ice together and the 3 spread the zone for a good chance off the rush the last game or 2. the weakness has been establishing possession in the zone and creating chances off that which remains absent for the trio. laf could really be good distributing if they could figure out a template to work off of. thats one area the strome line is very good at at times - they get a puck deep and hunt or strome wrap it around the boards to panarin where he can get the puck with some space to create. mika/kreider/laf dont have any base to work off of retrieving a puck so it just ends up mucking on the wall until it gets worked outta the zone or theres a broken play chance thats usually not high quality.

 

[rangersfansince08]

agree, dont think its all on him though. hes remained active and supporting pucks - the whole line has been part of this. not seeing the breakouts with all 3 playing off each other. havent seen them throw it down for kreider to win a race, havent seen laf and mika come up ice together and the 3 spread the zone for a good chance off the rush the last game or 2. the weakness has been establishing possession in the zone and creating chances off that which remains absent for the trio. laf could really be good distributing if they could figure out a template to work off of. thats one area the strome line is very good at at times - they get a puck deep and hunt or strome wrap it around the boards to panarin where he can get the puck with some space to create. mika/kreider/laf dont have any base to work off of retrieving a puck so it just ends up mucking on the wall until it gets worked outta the zone or theres a broken play chance thats usually not high quality.

Its not all on him. Most of Kreider and Mika's production in the meantime seems to have come on the PP or delayed penalties.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

he doesn't look good on the scoresheet or on the ice. He had a couple good games but thats it. Grinder.

 

[rangersfansince08]

I love Panarin and Mika but there would be something so satisfying about having a great forward we drafted (besides Kreider)

 

[Harbour Dog]

Lafreniere is a better player than Caufield right now, much less when they are in their primes. If Caufield was a Rangers prospect, he would probably be in Hartford.

I can see people bellyaching about guys like Zegras or Stutzle (though, I disagree), but Caufield!?.. come on now.

 

[rangersfansince08]

Lafreniere is a better player than Caufield right now, much less when they are in their primes. If Caufield was a Rangers prospect, he would probably be in Hartford.

I can see people bellyaching about guys like Zegras or Stutzle (though, I disagree), but Caufield!?.. come on now.

What makes him better?

 

[Psycho for Perreault]

People here enjoy hating Rangers. Let Igor have a few more average games in a row and watch how quickly they turn. It's happened to Fox and Panarin recently. Mika got his for the first month of the season.

As for Laf, anyone criticizing his assist numbers aren't watching the games. He has set up plenty of people for grade A chances. He can't bury it for them. He is in the middle of some fluky bad luck. It'll turn.

 

[Blais to Win]

I love Panarin and Mika but there would be something so satisfying about having a great forward we drafted (besides Kreider)

Yeah. Nothing like it.

But really it's the thrill of reading hundreds if not thousands of posts over the years saying he's a bust and we should trade him that really, truly satisfy me about the process. I frankly can't wait until a great forward of ours begins to actually decline to get the best, juiciest satisfaction out of our home-grown talent.

 

[SA16]

Does anyone know how Lafreniere's five on five stats on Thursday night games against division opponents who aren't playing on the second half of a back to back compare to the other left handed shooting forwards taken with the number one overall pick?

 

[Harbour Dog]

What makes him better?

Lafreniere doesn't cost his team scoring chances against multiple times a game. In the 10-12 Habs games that I've seen this year, I've seen Caufield make about that many egregious errors that could have ended up in the back of the net. And I'm sure he wasn't playing in every game that I seen; some were early in the season.

Caufield wouldn't sniff important minutes on a team that wants to win now, and he certainly wouldn't be getting PP1 time on the Rangers (2nd most PP time on Montreal right now).

It isn't just about the boxscore. I'm very confident that if you flipped the two of them around, Lafreniere would have at least Caufield's points if not more, and Caufield may or not even be with the big club. Caufield is still a very immature player; Lafreniere is playing winning hockey, but not getting ticks next to his name in the boxscore as much.

 

[ReddestRum]

People here enjoy hating Rangers. Let Igor have a few more average games in a row and watch how quickly they turn. It's happened to Fox and Panarin recently. Mika got his for the first month of the season.

As for Laf, anyone criticizing his assist numbers aren't watching the games. He has set up plenty of people for grade A chances. He can't bury it for them. He is in the middle of some fluky bad luck. It'll turn.

It happens regularly on gameday. Panarin for forcing passes or overpassing, but leads the team in assists. Fox, who wasn't himself for a few games, was supposedly on the decline where people were saying its because he's already got his payday, but the man puts up more points than forwards on our team as a defenseman.

As for Laf, what's the big deal that he's set up players? Panarin and Fox always set up players. I think Laf gets one really good pass for a high % scoring chance a game and that should make me believe that he's above average? Laf has 5 shots, no goals, a -4, in 4 games in 78 shifts throughout those games. That. Is. Piss. Poor.

 

[DanielBrassard]

Does anyone know how Lafreniere's five on five stats on Thursday night games against division opponents who aren't playing on the second half of a back to back compare to the other left handed shooting forwards taken with the number one overall pick?

Still terrible

 

[ReddestRum]

Lafreniere doesn't cost his team scoring chances against multiple times a game. In the 10-12 Habs games that I've seen this year, I've seen Caufield make about that many egregious errors that could have ended up in the back of the net. And I'm sure he wasn't playing in every game that I seen; some were early in the season.

Caufield wouldn't sniff important minutes on a team that wants to win now, and he certainly wouldn't be getting PP1 time on the Rangers (2nd most PP time on Montreal right now).

It isn't just about the boxscore. I'm very confident that if you flipped the two of them around, Lafreniere would have at least Caufield's points if not more, and Caufield may or not even be with the big club. Caufield is still a very immature player; Lafreniere is playing winning hockey, but not getting ticks next to his name in the boxscore as much.

The CC who has Stanley Cup final experience and was instrumental in getting his team there, who is outpacing to reach Laf's career point total in less than half of Laf's games is the immature player because he takes more chances, shoots more, scores more, and is more of an impact on the Habs than Laf has been with us...

I'm loving the mental gymnastics and goal post moving in this thread.

 

[DanielBrassard]

Caufield has scored at the same rate as Lafreniere at 5v5 except his SH% is 1/3 of Lafreniere's but his shot rate is almost double. Plus their playdriving numbers are almost identical. But yeah Lafreniere is a much better player just because.

 

[Harbour Dog]

Okay guys, you win. I'm out.

 

[rangersfansince08]

I could live with a few defensive lapses if he was an impact player. I'd have more faith in those getting cleaned up later rather than Laf pulling skill out of nowhere. Plus its not like he is a plus defender. Just excuses for Laf. If any other teams fans did that with their player they would be ridiculed by us.

 

[LORDE]

I could live with a few defensive lapses if he was an impact player. I'd have more faith in those getting cleaned up later rather than Laf pulling skill out of nowhere. Plus its not like he is a plus defender. Just excuses for Laf. If any other teams fans did that with their player they would be ridiculed by us.

Agree. The 1 on 1 he had last night against the Ducks summarizes his entire NHL career to date...

He didn't make a move...
He didn't get a shot off...
He didn't buy time & move the puck to anyone...
He didn't even dump it in deep...

He just lost it.

He's just 'there' and that's it

 

[IDvsEGO]

and then the double inside out move he tried to pull against the stars, he got inside, but couldn't pull off the second half of it. Thats absolutely the type of thing he can pull off when he gets defenders to start backing off him a bit more.

 

[Synergy27]

I just don’t get it with this kid. Kakko’s slow start is frustrating but understandable. Kakko never really stood out as a particularly skillful player in his draft year, he was just a guy as was insanely productive and seemed to have some sort of competitive “it factor” that made him stand out against his peers.

This was not the case for Laf. He was clearly the best player in that draft year, and looked every bit the part every time you watched him play. The skill, the snarl, the compete - all there.

He has at least now flashed those things in the NHL. We need to hope the consistency follows, sooner rather than later.