Player Discussion Alexis Lafrenière

[NickyFotiu]

Yeah, sure, he's just doing enough to earn his current salary. That's definitely it.. Laf needs a big offseason. Without making the playoffs, he'll get plenty of time now to play some baseball, enjoy some golf, chill near the pool, and still put in a good work-out/off-season training.

We no longer care what his 5 on 5 points are at the end of the season. What we care about is watching him look lazy on the ice. He looks like shit. He looks like he couldn't care less. He makes dumb plays. He floats. He's invisible. He didn't build on last season. He took a step back.

The funny thing is the other day I'm watching Laf. In a span of around 15 seconds I saw him make 2 nice strong plays. I thought to myself Laf is trying. Right at that point he tries to make a lazy backhand pass from the left boards almost 80 feet to the right boards. I was like darn Laf. Don't ruin the good shift lol.

 

[TGWL]

The funny thing is the other day I'm watching Laf. In a span of around 15 seconds I saw him make 2 nice strong plays. I thought to myself Laf is trying. Right at that point he tries to make a lazy backhand pass from the left boards almost 80 feet to the right boards. I was like darn Laf. Don't ruin the good shift lol.

The talent is there to make plays. I'm not saying Kuch level, or elite level, but there's talent to make quick decisions and plays. But it's followed up with too much laziness and careless decisions to the point where the imaginary line is much closer to the bad plays than the good plays he makes. Stamina/energy level and quicker steps should be on his radar this off-season. Add some lower body strength and lay off the bagels/Pizza/Donuts.

I imagine that if his teammates were about to be dumped in the ocean unless Laf kept his feet moving, all his teammates would get wet.

 

[will1066]

He has let bad habits creep over his game, which hopefully he reverses, and he needs to get stronger. Put an end to the finesse, perimeter mindset.

 

[Takeahnase]

This cracks me up. He doesn’t show any flipping finesse, either. At least when the knuckleheads on this board complain about Panarin’s finesse there is actual finesse to deconstruct. Laffy has been a disaster this season.

I’ve seen Bigfoot more times this year than him displaying finesse or high skill plays.

Hopefully he has some pride and comes into next year and shows something.

 

[Riche16]

Bottom line is for this team to have a chance in the future Laf probably has to become a star. Given that we should all be hoping he does. I think next season he really needs to show he put in the effort. If he does other stuff will probably fall in to place. It did last season.

We've been saying this for years now.

It's not going to happen. Not here at least.

 

[bhamill]

Yeah, sure, he's just doing enough to earn his current salary. That's definitely it.. Laf needs a big offseason. Without making the playoffs, he'll get plenty of time now to play some baseball, enjoy some golf, chill near the pool, and still put in a good work-out/off-season training.

We no longer care what his 5 on 5 points are at the end of the season. What we care about is watching him look lazy on the ice. He looks like shit. He looks like he couldn't care less. He makes dumb plays. He floats. He's invisible. He didn't build on last season. He took a step back.

Actually I DO care what his production is at the end of the day… along with what he looks like and his effort. If he fails the eye test but puts up a PPG I guess I can live with it. More easily than him looking good but not producing. Of course the ideal is both are good, but the bottom line IS the bottom line…

 

[bhamill]

The funny thing is the other day I'm watching Laf. In a span of around 15 seconds I saw him make 2 nice strong plays. I thought to myself Laf is trying. Right at that point he tries to make a lazy backhand pass from the left boards almost 80 feet to the right boards. I was like darn Laf. Don't ruin the good shift lol.

He’s wildly inconsistent. Sometimes he’s physical, sometimes he seems to disappear. Sometimes he rips a great shot, sometimes it’s weak… pretty much every facet of his game has been that way this year.

 

[NickyFotiu]

We've been saying this for years now.

It's not going to happen. Not here at least.

I hope you are wrong. Last season he looked to be on his way. He is still young. It is up to him. No reason it can't be here. Zibs and CK may be gone. Laf will be one of our longest tenured forwards next season. Good time for him to step up.

 

[Cusedog2]

He’s wildly inconsistent. Sometimes he’s physical, sometimes he seems to disappear. Sometimes he rips a great shot, sometimes it’s weak… pretty much every facet of his game has been that way this year.

He seems very content to be a passenger more times than not. He literally floats around once the puck leaves his stick and watches his teammates on too many occasions. This player lacks some serious dawg in his game.

 

[noncents]

He seems very content to be a passenger more times than not. He literally floats around once the puck leaves his stick and watches his teammates on too many occasions. This player lacks some serious dawg in his game.

no fire, no pride. just a chilled out cat.

 

[TGWL]

Actually I DO care what his production is at the end of the day… along with what he looks like and his effort. If he fails the eye test but puts up a PPG I guess I can live with it. More easily than him looking good but not producing. Of course the ideal is both are good, but the bottom line IS the bottom line…

There's a big difference between PPG Laf and "well, he ranks 25th in even strength points among wingers/forwards when the season is over." Of course you can live with more flaws when somebody is a PPG player. I can live with that as well.

 

[bhamill]

There's a big difference between PPG Laf and "well, he ranks 25th in even strength points among wingers/forwards when the season is over." Of course you can live with more flaws when somebody is a PPG player. I can live with that as well.

Of course. Context is everything.
While I want far more from him, because I think he’s capable of far more, I look at him at a 23 year old player who is scoring close to .6 PPG, practically all at even strength, in a backstep year. To me it’s far down the list of problems this team had this year, and I expect him to rebound. Kreider, Pan, Zib, Trocheck? Sadly I think they are on the downswing.
I’m not suggesting anyone should be happy with Laf’s play, least of all Laf. But in perspective it’s not exactly the end of the world.

 

[UnSandvich]

Currently T-34th in the league in 5v5 scoring with Tavares, Lee, Nelson, Forsberg, Guentzel, Konecny, and Peterka. Of those players, the only one with more primary points (G+1st Assists) is Tavares. He's ahead of some notable names like Boldy, Wyatt Johnston, Rantanen, Reinhart, Necas, Stutzle, Barkov, Bennett, and both Tkachuks.

It's important not to lose sight of the fact that while his season has been quite disappointing, it has definitely not been BAD.

 

[NickyFotiu]

Currently T-34th in the league in 5v5 scoring with Tavares, Lee, Nelson, Forsberg, Guentzel, Konecny, and Peterka. Of those players, the only one with more primary points (G+1st Assists) is Tavares. He's ahead of some notable names like Boldy, Wyatt Johnston, Rantanen, Reinhart, Necas, Stutzle, Barkov, Bennett, and both Tkachuks.

It's important not to lose sight of the fact that while his season has been quite disappointing, it has definitely not been BAD.

It concerns me that somehow he has a worse plus minus than Bread but I do agree with your points.

 

[bhamill]

Currently T-34th in the league in 5v5 scoring with Tavares, Lee, Nelson, Forsberg, Guentzel, Konecny, and Peterka. Of those players, the only one with more primary points (G+1st Assists) is Tavares. He's ahead of some notable names like Boldy, Wyatt Johnston, Rantanen, Reinhart, Necas, Stutzle, Barkov, Bennett, and both Tkachuks.

It's important not to lose sight of the fact that while his season has been quite disappointing, it has definitely not been BAD.

Yeah, as disappointing as his season has been, even with his long stretches where the points didn’t come, he still tracks as a 1st line winger in 5v5 production…. It’s really frustrating. Hahahaha. It’s like you want to just shake him and scream in his face to be consistent. Hahaha.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Yeah, as disappointing as his season has been, even with his long stretches where the points didn’t come, he still tracks as a 1st line winger in 5v5 production…. It’s really frustrating. Hahahaha. It’s like you want to just shake him and scream in his face to be consistent. Hahaha.

Seems like something a halfway competent coach would try and address

 

[TGWL]

14 of those even strength points came in the first 19 games. I think we can all agree he was playing much better to start the season. He ranks 130th in p/60 since. (Filtered with players who played at least 25 games since his first 14 points) It has been that bad since.

 

[Riche16]

Currently T-34th in the league in 5v5 scoring with Tavares, Lee, Nelson, Forsberg, Guentzel, Konecny, and Peterka. Of those players, the only one with more primary points (G+1st Assists) is Tavares. He's ahead of some notable names like Boldy, Wyatt Johnston, Rantanen, Reinhart, Necas, Stutzle, Barkov, Bennett, and both Tkachuks.

It's important not to lose sight of the fact that while his season has been quite disappointing, it has definitely not been BAD.

He doesn't produce on the PP though. If he was force fed minutes there his numbers wouldn't be significantly higher.

I guess I just don't see it in him, but I have been a bit of a hater... aside from last season.

 

[ReddestRum]

Cuylle doing more with a lot less minutes than Laf at 800K all damn season and not nearly a defensive disaster like Laf. Congrats on your promotion for absolutely nothing, stud.

 

[Bacon Artemi Bravo]

I've been Laffy's biggest supporter. This season was a disaster. Any opinion of him seems equally valid at this point. Extremely disappointing, was a part of the problem and not a part of the solution. I thought he had more compete than he showed this year.

 

[bleedblue94]

Here's the real issue with laffy, What we see right now is most likely what he's going to be with this organization and in this environment based on the entitlement culture that he basically grew up in with the rangers. He is part of the issue now and the problem is that nobody's going to want to move them out of here because if he goes to the right organization with an embedded culture he's most likely going to bounce back and find his game. I couldn't care less how many points he got this year because he wasn't that negative with all the other lacking parts to his game that affected the whole team. It's really difficult seeing this with him when three of the next four players picked after him would all go before him in a redraft but the reality is the reality. If he's going to consistently act like he's not doing anything wrong and he's not part of the problem then you need to get his ass out of here before he becomes the next cancer that starts infecting anybody else that you bring into this organization. This was the guy that everybody around here wanted the captaincy held for and it people rioted about giving it to Trouba. He's been exposed here as a bit of an immature clown and right now this organization does not have the pieces in it to pull him back, and somehow they're going to have to be able to establish that culture again but if this guy is seen as the representative of the next wave of core then it's actually going to be harder to fix things around here. The real representative of the next wave of the core is the guy wearing 50...

 

[Chaels Arms]

The amount of copium in here is hilarious.

Lafreniere was supposed to be a franchise changing player. Go back and read some of the articles on him pre-draft if you want to have a good pout. He can't even earn a spot on one of the worst PP's in the league. The only reason he does somewhat well at 5v5 is because he plays with Panarin. Take him off Panarin's line and he's basically got as much skill as Matt Rempe.

 

[Row I Goon]

The amount of copium in here is hilarious.

Lafreniere was supposed to be a franchise changing player. Go back and read some of the articles on him pre-draft if you want to have a good pout. He can't even earn a spot on one of the worst PP's in the league. The only reason he does somewhat well at 5v5 is because he plays with Panarin. Take him off Panarin's line and he's basically got as much skill as Matt Rempe.

Oi! Don’t you disrespect Rempe.

 

[mas0764]

14 of those even strength points came in the first 19 games. I think we can all agree he was playing much better to start the season. He ranks 130th in p/60 since. (Filtered with players who played at least 25 games since his first 14 points) It has been that bad since.

The entire team fell apart.

 

[ReddestRum]

The entire team fell apart.

The Sharks suck worse than we do, but Celebrini and Smith stand out considerably. Poised to be franchise flag bearers. Laf is just another player on this team that goes invisible for long stretches of games. You hear Cuylle's name a lot more when it comes to players making an impact for the team, despite the woes. Hell, Byfield reached a career high in goals, is 2 points away from matching his season high last year in points, and isn't a defensive hole when he's on the ice as a +17. He only has 6 PP points, so what he's doing he's doing at even strength as well. In either case, whether a team is falling apart or playoff bound, there can be standouts.