Player Discussion Alexis Lafrenière

[Crease]

Behold, in all its glory, the Rangers' top 10 picks since 1990.

1993 - Niklas Sundstrom (8)
1998 - Manny Malholtra (7)
1999 - Pavel Brendl (4)
1999 - Jamie Lundmark (9)
2001 - Dan Blackburn (10)
2004 - Al Montoya (6)
2010 - Dylan McIlrath (10)
2017 - Lias Andersson (7)
2018 - Vitali Kravtsov (9)
2019 - Kaapo Kakko (2)
2020 - Alexis Lafreniere (1)

 

[Harbour Dog]

Behold, in all its glory, the Rangers' top 10 picks since 1990.

1993 - Niklas Sundstrom (8)
1998 - Manny Malholtra (7)
1999 - Pavel Brendl (4)
1999 - Jamie Lundmark (9)
2001 - Dan Blackburn (10)
2004 - Al Montoya (6)
2010 - Dylan McIlrath (10)
2017 - Lias Andersson (7)
2018 - Vitali Kravtsov (9)
2019 - Kaapo Kakko (2)
2020 - Alexis Lafreniere (1)

 

[PANARIN BREAD FAN]

Behold, in all its glory, the Rangers' top 10 picks since 1990.

1993 - Niklas Sundstrom (8)
1998 - Manny Malholtra (7)
1999 - Pavel Brendl (4)
1999 - Jamie Lundmark (9)
2001 - Dan Blackburn (10)
2004 - Al Montoya (6)
2010 - Dylan McIlrath (10)
2017 - Lias Andersson (7)
2018 - Vitali Kravtsov (9)
2019 - Kaapo Kakko (2)
2020 - Alexis Lafreniere (1)

all of these were a result of sather?

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Behold, in all its glory, the Rangers' top 10 picks since 1990.

1993 - Niklas Sundstrom (8)
1998 - Manny Malholtra (7)
1999 - Pavel Brendl (4)
1999 - Jamie Lundmark (9)
2001 - Dan Blackburn (10)
2004 - Al Montoya (6)
2010 - Dylan McIlrath (10)
2017 - Lias Andersson (7)
2018 - Vitali Kravtsov (9)
2019 - Kaapo Kakko (2)
2020 - Alexis Lafreniere (1)

This list makes me want to commit sudoku

31 teams lose every year but how they lose is significant.

This team has really gotten its doors blown off by playoff-caliber competition.

The last coach was a big part of that.

 

[Profet]

all of these were a result of sather?

Only the ones post 2000.

So... they actually drafted/developed better BEFORE Sather as Sundstrom and Malhotra had fairly long but unspectacular NHL careers.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Yeah put Tarasenko and Cherepanov on those 2013-14-15 teams and we probably have 2 Cups.

A top line of Cherepanov-Zibanejad-Tarasenko in 2016-17

OMG

 

[Crease]

RIP but, given the Rangers’ poor track record of forward development, Cherepanov does not get the benefit of the doubt from me.

 

[bhamill]

Larkin is not a defenseman and this wasn't last year.

You said with ability to. There you go. He has shown the ability. Did he lose the ability since that? Nope. He did it this past season too.
I’ll find the one from this last season for you if you want.
Don’t try to move the goalposts. Haha.

Okay.

Thanks bud. I just went and found this.

 

[Machinehead]

RIP but, given the Rangers’ poor track record of forward development, Cherepanov does not get the benefit of the doubt from me.

Yeah, all we had on Cherepanov is that he was doing such and such better than whatshisface in Russia at the same age.

Heard that before.

 

[Leonardo87]

This list makes me want to commit sudoku

I think you meant seppuku, Sorry. Sudoku is a puzzle game. lol.

 

[bhamill]

I think you meant seppuku, Sorry. Sudoku is a puzzle game. lol.

Same difference. Hahaha.

 

[Bacon Artemi Bravo]

Cool... have another?

I actually just thought it was hilarious that you asked for that play the following year against a Dman and not only did it exist but it was quite literally the exact same move and play lol

 

[PANARIN BREAD FAN]

if you don't want to be driven to committing to soduku, seppuku, or anything else that will drive you real cuckoo doo doo then you might not want to watch what's below:



this kid right now is one my favorite players to watch. what could have been watching him hook up with zibs. bread, kreider and fox and some sprinkles of chytil and kaako. the driver we sorely need that can go through both blue lines. kid kills penalties too. an nhl point guard at an all star level.

but nah some have to reach and defend our guy. the guy that dekes larkin. a season later dekes sandin. i think i'll buy a book of soduku puzzles right now while i wipe away the tears.

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

if you don't want to be driven to committing to soduku, seppuku, or anything else that will drive you real cuckoo doo doo then you might not want to watch what's below:



this kid right now is one my favorite players to watch. what could have been watching him hook up with zibs. bread, kreider and fox and some sprinkles of chytil and kaako. the driver we sorely need that can go through both blue lines. kid kills penalties too. an nhl point guard at an all star level.

but nah some have to reach and defend our guy. the guy that dekes larkin. a season later dekes sandin. i think i'll buy a book of soduku puzzles right now while i wipe away the tears.

I get it.

What else are we to do? We are left to hope and make excuses, even despite the fact that Laf hasnt been a total bust. Just not the superstar he was touted to be.

However - If Ottawa was first on the board that draft year, who would they have chosen? The consensus was Lafreniere and there was little debate at the time.

 

[haohmaru]

You make a good point, but the reality is of those picks, the team hasn’t given a prime opportunity to a single one of those picks except Miller, who stepped into a Top 4 slot almost immediately. Not a single one.

Hence why some feel we need to keep looking for talent. Kravtsov and Lias are busts, Lundkvist was moved because of depth (no issue with that deal and don’t think he’s a bust). Schneider is a 5D, Miller our 3D, Lafreniere Kakko and Chytil are used as 3rd liners/PP2. Othmann and Perrault are developing.

The real problem is that our 1OA and 2OA, of course, aren't the typical 1OA's and 2OA's that simply can't be denied ice time because of how good they are. They aren't the Crosby's and Ovechkins of the world that we needed them to be.

Imagine if our 1OA was Jack Hughes and 2OA was Svechnikov.

Things would look a bit brighter, no?

 

[haohmaru]

I maintain we need more talent; but maybe it's a development and deployment issue, which, if fixed, would have yielded 80 point Lafreniere, 70 point Kakko, 60 point Kravtsov and 50 point Lias Andersson here as well, and then that would be enough talent. But we don't have those players, so here we are: in desperate need of more organizational youth to make this team and play at a high level to push us over the top.

Nah, if history has proven anything it's that Kravtsov and Andersson aren't NHL players and that those picks just weren't the right ones. Andersson has been with LA and now MTL as long as he was with the Rangers and he's actually played less games. Kravtsov had an "out" and has used it three times instead of redoubling his efforts to become an NHL player.

They were bad choices, in hindsight. Tough to make the call in the moment. I really didn't have a problem with the Andersson pick at the time because I thought, at worst, he's an everyday 3rd line center in the NHL (and said so at the time). That never materialized. I never liked the Kravtsov pick. Laf and Kakko were picks that every team in the NHL would've made.

Lafreniere and Kakko still have time. The question is if the Rangers will be patient enough and have enough common sense to let them develop.

 

[Beniers10 Hughes86]

if you don't want to be driven to committing to soduku, seppuku, or anything else that will drive you real cuckoo doo doo then you might not want to watch what's below:



this kid right now is one my favorite players to watch. what could have been watching him hook up with zibs. bread, kreider and fox and some sprinkles of chytil and kaako. the driver we sorely need that can go through both blue lines. kid kills penalties too. an nhl point guard at an all star level.

but nah some have to reach and defend our guy. the guy that dekes larkin. a season later dekes sandin. i think i'll buy a book of soduku puzzles right now while i wipe away the tears.

Just Marcel Dionne to Lafrenieres Guy Lafleur

 

[chosen]

The season before that, they put up 37% xGF against Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh led in 6/7 games (multi-goal lead in 4/7). Winning that series was a fluke.

Winning is still more important than analytics. If the league changes the rules to best analytics wins, we can revisit all of this.

How were the analytics for Boston this past season?

If it were always about analytics, Carolina would have a couple Cups over the last 5 seasons.

Pitt was leading in the games is proof of something?

If games get shortened to 35.5 minutes, Pitt would have won?

The Rangers have issues. Like every other team.

Cup winners usually stay relatively healthy.

IMO, heading into next season, the Rangers are a top 5 team in their conference.

Will they win?

Probably not.

Same thing applies to every other team.

Kakko is about to become a really valuable hockey player.

I know you disagree, but I love the future of Schneider.

I'm more bullish on this team than most here. It's amazing to me that some posters point to 1939 as being relevant to today's team.

It's hot outside.

Oppenheimer opens soon.

 

[Machinehead]

Winning is still more important than analytics. If the league changes the rules to best analytics wins, we can revisit all of this.

How were the analytics for Boston this past season?

If it were always about analytics, Carolina would have a couple Cups over the last 5 seasons.

Pitt was leading in the games is proof of something?

If games get shortened to 35.5 minutes, Pitt would have won?

The Rangers have issues. Like every other team.

Cup winners usually stay relatively healthy.

IMO, heading into next season, the Rangers are a top 5 team in their conference.

Will they win?

Probably not.

Same thing applies to every other team.

Kakko is about to become a really valuable hockey player.

I know you disagree, but I love the future of Schneider.

I'm more bullish on this team than most here. It's amazing to me that some posters point to 1939 as being relevant to today's team.

It's hot outside.

Oppenheimer opens soon.

Analytics are predictive of winning.

A team going through the playoffs with the underlying numbers we had in the 2022 run has never won the Stanley Cup since such numbers are being recorded. Not once.

You think the team is in the running and the rest is up to the universe. I agree with that as a concept. I don't think they're in the running. I think they fundamentally need to be a better team.

 

[mike14]

Behold, in all its glory, the Rangers' top 10 picks since 1990.

1993 - Niklas Sundstrom (8)
1998 - Manny Malholtra (7)
1999 - Pavel Brendl (4)
1999 - Jamie Lundmark (9)
2001 - Dan Blackburn (10)
2004 - Al Montoya (6)
2010 - Dylan McIlrath (10)
2017 - Lias Andersson (7)
2018 - Vitali Kravtsov (9)
2019 - Kaapo Kakko (2)
2020 - Alexis Lafreniere (1)

3 top 5 picks in a span that has only 1 cup and 12 seasons missing the playoffs seems quite weird. We really need to learn how to suck properly instead of just being mediocre.

I do have a theory that some of the development issues for Laf and KK (and even Lias and Krav, who just aren't very good) is that organizationally we have absolutely no idea how to handle/coach/guide very high picks who are meant to have high-impact upside.
There's no-one in the organization, player or admin, who was drafted in a role like that and can act as a mentor, or provide context and understanding. Closest would probably be Mika, but even he wasn't expected to a game-changer right out of the gate

 

[ReddestRum]

Behold, in all its glory, the Rangers' top 10 picks since 1990.

1993 - Niklas Sundstrom (8)
1998 - Manny Malholtra (7)
1999 - Pavel Brendl (4)
1999 - Jamie Lundmark (9)
2001 - Dan Blackburn (10)
2004 - Al Montoya (6)
2010 - Dylan McIlrath (10)
2017 - Lias Andersson (7)
2018 - Vitali Kravtsov (9)
2019 - Kaapo Kakko (2)
2020 - Alexis Lafreniere (1)

 

[IDvsEGO]

3 top 5 picks in a span that has only 1 cup and 12 seasons missing the playoffs seems quite weird. We really need to learn how to suck properly instead of just being mediocre.

I do have a theory that some of the development issues for Laf and KK (and even Lias and Krav, who just aren't very good) is that organizationally we have absolutely no idea how to handle/coach/guide very high picks who are meant to have high-impact upside.
There's no-one in the organization, player or admin, who was drafted in a role like that and can act as a mentor, or provide context and understanding. Closest would probably be Mika, but even he wasn't expected to a game-changer right out of the gate

We also had two terrible coaches for developing players.
Quinn infamous for being absolutely terrible in developing / using Kakko
and Gallant who just didnt talk to any of his players.

I know that washington is complaining because Laviolette didnt use the kids there, but I also think the level of kid we have, and what they had was far different.
The fans wanted a hard tank, and he wanted to win.

We want to win, best way he can do that is by getting the kids to hit their draft potential.

 

[PuckLuck3043]

if you don't want to be driven to committing to soduku, seppuku, or anything else that will drive you real cuckoo doo doo then you might not want to watch what's below:



this kid right now is one my favorite players to watch. what could have been watching him hook up with zibs. bread, kreider and fox and some sprinkles of chytil and kaako. the driver we sorely need that can go through both blue lines. kid kills penalties too. an nhl point guard at an all star level.

but nah some have to reach and defend our guy. the guy that dekes larkin. a season later dekes sandin. i think i'll buy a book of soduku puzzles right now while i wipe away the tears.

Not 1 GM in the league would have taken him over Laf. Not 1.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Not 1 GM in the league would have taken him over Laf. Not 1.

Also he would have sucked with us. Maybe not as bad as Laf, but he wouldn’t be what he is now

 

[PANARIN BREAD FAN]

Also he would have sucked with us. Maybe not as bad as Laf, but he wouldn’t be what he is now

yeah we got it - you called it right on the mark - gallant sucks. he absolutely would not have stuck stoots at the center slot. he would have taught...yeah right-he's not there to develop but instead to coach to win games.