Seriously, I mean Mika gets the most flak for most of the season, but compared to Laf he at least had some impact some time. Laf is just there. Just when we thought he'd finally break through, he has been the definition of average ever since he signed that deal. Yeah the whole team has been bad, but your #1 overall player regressing after just barely starting to play decent - that's just depressing.
Player Discussion Alexis Lafrenière
- Thread starter Leonardo87
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NickyFotiu
NYR 2026 Cup Champs!
- Sep 29, 2011
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will1066
F%^& Evan Rodrigues
- Oct 12, 2008
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NickyFotiu
NYR 2026 Cup Champs!
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McRanger92
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- Jun 7, 2017
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In here for the Lafreniere jokes and slander but if he gets his confidence back he’s a big piece for us. He dominated at times in the 2024 playoffs. Can beat defenseman 1 on 1. I think a shift to C would be a good way to give him more ice time and responsibility. Have Peca and Trocheck take him to faceoff school. Needs to move his feet and be in better shape next year.
mrmovies779
The Greatest Teacher,Failure is.
- Feb 5, 2013
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He's bad defensively.... So your solution is to move him to a position where he has more responsibility on the defensive side?
NickyFotiu
NYR 2026 Cup Champs!
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I'm open to new ideas but I'd also prefer a guy that can carry the mail from defense to offense at center. I have rarely seen that from Laffy.
For us to succeed next season we need Laffy, Fox, Shesty, and JT to all step up and carry this team.
McRanger92
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Defense is 90% effort. Kevin Hayes was horrible defensively until the Rangers stuck him at C and forced him to defend better.
ReddestRum
Sad even when winning
- Dec 19, 2013
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Laf's biggest issue (besides his shit defense) was his deferring to the pass this season. He shot significantly more last season. In only 22 out of 82 games this season, Laf put more than three shots on goal. In 16 games across the board this season, Laf took 0 shots.
laff at center...what?????
dubois, aho, horvat, hughes, monahan, and maybe crosby and couturier would would dust laff time after time. and those are just the centers in his division. if you thought his +/- was bad this season jut you wait until you try this experiment next season.
dubois, aho, horvat, hughes, monahan, and maybe crosby and couturier would would dust laff time after time. and those are just the centers in his division. if you thought his +/- was bad this season jut you wait until you try this experiment next season.
Shesterkybomb
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- Dec 30, 2016
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He needs his confidence back, he needs to get more pp time, people dump on him but his whole career he was relied on, pp time, pk time etc he's not getting that here and it's likely weighing on him. If he fails this team is likely to fail as we had hooked our wagon to a rebuild that largely featured him, igor and Kakko. They need to get this right, and quick. Nobody can convince me this is all he can be because I've seen it before.
- Apr 16, 2012
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Yeah.
Lafreniere’s production this year was 79% of last year’s.
Mika’s production was 86% of last years.
So in that way Mika was not quite as disappointing. If you can ignore the fact that one of them is only 23 years old and the other is supposedly a veteran leader. And that the 23 year old actually took responsibility for his disappointing season while the other one made f***ing excuses and pointed everywhere else…
If I had to count on one of them rebounding next season it would be the 23 year old. But who knows? In any case, neither one of them should look any further than themself for the reasons they disappointed. At least Lafreniere seems to get that.
ReddestRum
Sad even when winning
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He got more PP time than Cuylle who deserved it more while getting half of the PP time that Laf got. Laf got 4 PP points this season and Cuylle got 3. JT Miller got 8 points on the PP obviously with less time than Laf as well. Still, out PP literally relies on one or two shooters, and that's been a big problem too.
- Apr 16, 2012
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Incredibly, it’s possible that BOTH young wingers deserve more power play time… or if you (the general you, not YOU) don’t think one or both DESERVE it, despite being two of our better scorers at EV, it would behoove our team to groom them on the PP ANYWAY, since they are the future and our present powerplay has been a miserable f***ing failure.
Lafreniere’s issues have not really changed. He is lacking the maturity, drive and commitment of a professional athlete. His is a 10A who will be making 7.4 mil. He has been passed by the majority of the top of his draft class. Far too many excuses for this guy. Most said he needed more ice time with better players; and what did he do with that!
McRanger92
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Stopped trying when he got paid. He’s got the talent but no care. Learned well from our vets. Fox has this issue as well, he’s just a better player.
I actually think this makes it even worse. Mika is likely in decline, but at least he had some good seasons for us. Laf was already disappointing for a #1 pick before this season, but at least it seemed he'd finally become "good". And then he took a decisive step back.
I really don't want to read any more stats how Laf has the best 5-on-5 advanced stats on weekends after a full moon or whatever else is compiled to somehow make his disappointing play more presentable. I want a consistently good player that regularly makes an impact. But somehow he managed to become even even less impactful than Kakko.
- Apr 16, 2012
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You think it’s worse that a 23 year old still finding his game, after a step forward last season and playoffs, making 2.3 million, had a back step year than a vet “leader” making 8.5 million a year having his second shit season in a row? With the 23 year old outscoring the vet at EV 41 (with 119 hits and a -13) to 37 (with 44 hits and a -22)? I guess we have different value systems. Which is completely allowed.
There come the cherry picked stats again...
Yeah it's very awesome, that he had more ES points, but you know what? He also has more ES TOI than Mika. And on the PP he managed a whopping 4 points in 128 minutes while Mika had 19 in 235. And those points count too. Now I'm sure you'll counter with worse line mates and you're right, but still, Laf hasn't shown anything to deserve promotion. Oh and he can't be trusted to kill penalties either...
I'm not saying Mika was good, but Laf was even worse. And if he were to continue earning 2.3 million this would be no problem. But from next year on, we'll be paying him 7.45 million. If he does not improve, that'll be worse value than Mika this year.
- Apr 16, 2012
- 3,883
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Good gravy. Cherry picked? Zibs was ass this year. Even worse ass off of the power play. Bad as Laf’s defense was he still out plus minused Zibs. Laf basically did not get powerplay 1 time. Why would we compare their stats including it? You think Zibs picking up more than 30% of his points on the powerplay doesn’t make for apples to oranges? Good luck.
As I said, we are allowed to have different value systems. I’d rather the 23 year old who took responsibility for his performance that HE called disappointing. And who said HE has to do better. Meanwhile the veteran, who may be even worse next year, looked around at everyone and everything else.
IMO Zibs was worse, and on top of it took no responsibility. I’m willing to bet Laf bounces back, Zibs? Who the hell inows? Maybe if the stars align perfectly for him. Maybe if Drury communicates more with him. Hahahaha. Please. But differing opinions make the world go round, right?
And I’m a guy that supported Mika through last year and the beginning of this one. I’m not one of his haters. I do t condone the personal shit people say about him. He’s just objectively been shit for the better part of two seasons, and he seems to think it’s not his fault. Zero faith in this guy.
Despite Mika having almost 30% of his points on the PP, he still had a better TOI/P ratio at ES than Laf. He even had a better ration at ES+SH than Laf did at ES+PP. Or to make it even more damning: Mika needed just around 27 minutes per shorthanded point, while Laf needed around 32 minutes per point on the power play.
And it's great that he's disappointed and acknowledges his bad play, but I don't care much about words. I care more about play. And that's the thing: Mika was a disappointment this season no doubt, but yet Laf was an even bigger one. And that's worrying. This ain't no sophomore slump either, this was his 5th season in the NHL. To me this continued lack of progression is far more disappointing than an older player like Mika declining.
NYRFANMANI
Department of Rempe Safety Management
I couldn't stomach the "shift young player x to center" idea, from the get go.
One of the most ridiculous narratives on the board, and every season more people cone up with the same ludicrous idea over and over again.
smh
One of the most ridiculous narratives on the board, and every season more people cone up with the same ludicrous idea over and over again.
smh
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