Objectively, he should be getting criticized more than he has been. There's few players who have been bright spots, and there's everyone else... "everyone else" (except Lafreniere) has earned criticism and received criticism in equal measure. Lafreniere hasn't. If anything, he should have higher expectations placed on him than some of the other younger players on this team, if not for his draft position, if not for his new contact, if not for what he's shown he's capable of, then what? I'm not saying fans should turn on him, but the potential he has shown is not theoretical or draft hype anymore.
We know what we can and should expect from him, talent wise. So it's just remarkable he is relatively unscathed. It would be... nice if he didn't sink to the same low as the rest of the team, since he is such an integral part of the team's future. It would be nice if he started to demonstrate he could step up and be better than that, at this point, or at some point this season. It would be nice to see him start to try and become a leader. Opportunity is there, but we'll have to wait and see if that's him or not.