Player Discussion Alexis Lafreniere

[Ail]

As someone who has been rooting for this kid forever, reading these posts are heartbreaking. How the heck can he NOT be getting better (or trying)?

Sometimes you're just a dump in the pants of life.

 

[CasusBelli]

I dunno. Being drafted 1st OA & just cashing checks? Being traded somewhere else & then trying? I dont have anywhere an idea on that


I work in TV (almost 30 years now) & work w a lot of folks that are talent, produce, cameras etc across the sports spectrum

If you really want a resume DM me & I'll provide it

No need for resume lol. Just curious.

 

[bhamill]

It’s like the China Syndrome in here. Hahaha.

 

[Ail]

I've been told by MSG (TV production) folks that he isn't interested in that.

That Gallant wrote him off fairly early. Take that for what it's worth.

But the results DO, sadly, back up that summation.

Yeah and so will Lavi, at some point your primary function of winning games becomes the driver and not pampering Little Lord Lafleroy so he become half of what he was promised pre-draft. I can't wait to see how this tragedy plays out.

 

[Synergy27]

I think we are going to be hearing rumors about a trade request soon


From the wonderful folks who brought you Pavel Brendl

Any solid info on this or is this just speculation based on how bad a fit he continues to be here?

 

[Ail]

Player A
75 GP 20 G 14 A 34 P DY+2 Age 20
79 GP 9 G 23 A 32 P DY+3 Age 21

Player B
82 GP 9 G 20 A 29 P DY+2 Age 20
82 GP 16 G 20 A 36 P DY+3 Age 21

Player C
79 GP 19 G 12 A 31 P DY+2 Age 20
81 GP 16 G 23 A 39 P DY+3 Age 21

All three players were drafted either 1st or 2nd overall.

Two of the three are in the Hall of Fame.

This fan base needs to ******* relax.

Okay, I'm convinced. WE'RE SO BACK!! LETS f***ING GOOOOO!!!

 

[Rongomania]

I bet this place smells exactly like the Ottawa board when everyone was so high on Zibanejad after he had that beast draft year+ and then gave up on him. I was 50/50 on him back then too.

Number 1 overall aside, I am still higher on Laf than I was on Zbad back then. And I loved Mika before he got here. As we all know, Lafs stats are better during those post draft years when you compare the two.

I'm rooting for this kid until he's 26. Exactly what I'm doing with Kaapo, Schneids and Miller (Chytil to a lesser extent because we know he's oldest and best of the bunch so far). We need this future core to explode and have our current superstars insulate them as they all grow together. That's what it is going to take to bring a championship here.

 

[Mac n Gs]

Any solid info on this or is this just speculation based on how bad a fit he continues to be here?

Elliotte Friedman was postulating that this was basically and 1+1 type of contract for Laf when he and Marek were discussing the Rangers a week or so ago. The deal is cheap for the Rangers this year and cheap for the team next year if they need to find a new home for him.

 

[LokiDog]

Honest question…

Why is it that the Laf supporters almost always are posting retorts like:

“Reading this thread gave me cancer.”

“He’s 21!”

“You guys just want Laf to fail so you can be right!”

“No coach has given him a chance yet!”

“These 3 anonymous players I’m comparing based solely on their statistics without context for when/where they played and what scoring rates were like eventually became hall of famers so, since Laf’s stats are similar, don’t you think you should have more patience?!!”


It’s never “I see Laf maturing and he’s making smarter reads out there and he looks more comfortable with the puck this year and I think he’s showing progress and he has great hands in tight already and he seems really committed”. There’s never an argument that’s based on WHAT is good about Lafreniere. There is only arguments based on circumstances that are adjacent to Laf being not so great, but not necessarily responsible.

It’s always either a dismissive “did you guys all fall off the crazy train?” or a pretty dumb accusation “you just want the only hope this franchise has ever had of acquiring a truly elite talent to be a total failure, just so you can pat yourself on the back for being right”. That’s the same as @will016 asking if we think Laf wants to be bad. Yeah, we come to this forum literally 365 days a year and cheer for a team that lives in a cycle of futility perpetually just to make ourselves feel better about predicting failure. Sure thing.

It’s always some IDIOT coach who we would give our left arm to trade places with. It’s not getting enough minutes. Well he gets more than Kreider. Yeah but he needs to play with top six talent. Okay, but I thought that all three of Chytil, KK and Laf were top six deserving so, he is playing with top six talent. In fact, that kind of depth should earn them softer matchups where they can succeed, no? But it needs to be PP minutes. No, not those PP minutes, it needs to be 1st unit minutes. Okay but Covid cut his first pre-season short so he’s still catching up. What? No, of course it doesn’t matter that it was 4 years ago. No other prospect in the world went through that!!! Okay but Joe Thornton became generational! That’s great, did Joe Thornton LOOK entirely pedestrian and way too comfortable struggling during his early years or was the talent that made him a 1OA evident early on?

We’re always asking what people SEE in Laf that makes them so steadfast in their argument that we’re impatient and stupid and will be proven wrong any day now when Laf breaks out in 2025 or 2026… or 2027. The answers never have ANYTHING to do with Laf. It’s always “well he hasn’t had a real coach yet” or “well, look at Tage Thompson so… duh, that’s gonna be Laf too”.

It’s literally never something like “Laf needs to get quicker with his decision making but his pass through traffic is the best I’ve ever seen and the release on his shot is truly elite. He has great edges despite his speed and if he can gain a step and find some chemistry where he can be a net front guy, he’ll clean up with how sick his hands are in tight”. Never. Because it’s literally impossible to give Laf a positive scouting report after 3 NHL seasons so the only alternative is blaming coaches and ice time or making random comparisons to Joe Thornton or Tage Thompson.

 

[NickyFotiu]

Nothing wrong with supporting Laf and hoping Laf plays very well soon. Also nothing wrong with being realistic about how he is playing now.

 

[Rongomania]

Not gonna do it @LokiDog

 

[LokiDog]

View attachment 747907

Not gonna do it @LokiDog

Well that would skew the results. I genuinely want to see what the most a team would offer in hopes that it’s his circumstances and a change of scenery that’s needed. Obviously fans don’t speak for the actual teams, but I want to see if you could even swing a Laf for Slaf or, generally, whether people are viewing Laf as a player being mishandled who HAS the tools, or not.

 

[chosen]

The notion that Laf doesn't care is horseshiit. Guys like him have dreamed about winning Cups since they were little kids.

The only reason I haven't given up on him are his stats at even strength have been near the top of the team.

I still want to see him on a top line and PP1 for a while before casting him off.

 

[LOFIN]

The notion that Laf doesn't care is horseshiit. Guys like him have dreamed about winning Cups since they were little kids.

The only reason I haven't given up on him are his stats at even strength have been near the top of the team.

I still want to see him on a top line and PP1 for a while before casting him off.

For an extended time at that, unless we are struggling as a team. It kinda sucks because I want to see Kakko there, but getting Laf going is more important.

 

[NickyFotiu]

The notion that Laf doesn't care is horseshiit. Guys like him have dreamed about winning Cups since they were little kids.

The only reason I haven't given up on him are his stats at even strength have been near the top of the team.

I still want to see him on a top line and PP1 for a while before casting him off.

No disrespect intended but that is like saying all players want to win. Yes all players care and all players want to win to a degree. The difference is in how much work some players are willing to do to improve their games and help their teams win. If Laf is to ever become a great player it will be because he put that work in not because he plays with Zibs and CK instead of Chytil and KK. CK didn't always play first line. Neither did Zibs, Zooks, JT Miller, etc. In fact if CK and Zibs are first line now then what is Bread playing on?

 

[LokiDog]

For an extended time at that, unless we are struggling as a team. It kinda sucks because I want to see Kakko there, but getting Laf going is more important.

Honest question. What does “getting Laf going” mean? What is there to get going? What indicates there’s more there and it’s just a matter of getting it going? What if he just doesn’t have more to give? Why would we block Kakko - or any player who helps us win - if Laf doesn’t HAVE another level to get going to?

I’m not trying to be an ass. It’s an honest question. Usually when we talk about getting a player going it’s someone who has already proven something and is struggling. Mika on a 10 game goalless streak is someone you want to “get going”. When Fox only has 3 points in his last 6 games you want him to get going. What if this already IS Laf going? Let’s agree it’s too early to give up on him. Do we keep trying to get him going in January? Next October? How long are we trying to get him going when he’s never shown a level above where he’s at? At the expense of Kakko? Or icing our most competitive lineup while Shesterkin is cheap and Fox is prime and healthy and Zib and Kreider aren’t older and declining?

Like do we think if we just staple Laf to 1RW and leave him there for 50 games he’s eventually going to go on a 10 game point streak? Or is that line just going to be less productive? If we put him on PP1 and just leave him there all season, will he finally break out and suddenly be skating faster and showing more skill? Or will he maybe pickup 10 PP points and our PP will be 18% instead of 22%?

What if Laf just doesn’t have another gear?

 

[Greg02]

Seriously, do you think Laf wants to bust? Sometimes the person just can't do it. If he busts, he's not the first and he won't be the last either. Scouts, organizations, the whole system of ranking, can be wrong. Did Daigle wanted to bust? Did Stefan? Maybe he simply can't play faster than QMJHL (my class action is pending) pace. Some people's games never translate. He's not stupid. He knows there's talk about him. The organization knows too but the best thing they can do at the moment is insulate him from as much shit as possible.

Kerr critique shocked, motivated Wolves' Edwards

Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards drew high praise from Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr at the FIBA World Cup this summer, but that wasn't always the case.

www.espn.com

I don't know if you saw this story from earlier in the week, but when I read it my first reaction was this was amazing coaching from Steve Kerr who had no reason to be coaching Edwards, and my second reaction was I wish someone had said this to Lafreniere.

Obviously none of us are there, we can't really know, but do you think that Lafreniere is going as hard as Chris Kreider in the gym? I suspect that the answer to that is no.

"Me and my trainer riding home after dinner and we're just talking like we got to pick it up," Edwards said. "I don't know how, I don't know what we got to do, but we got to pick it up. After that. I became a madman at the gym."

 

[chosen]

No disrespect intended but that is like saying all players want to win. Yes all players care and all players want to win to a degree. The difference is in how much work some players are willing to do to improve their games and help their teams win. If Laf is to ever become a great player it will be because he put that work in not because he plays with Zibs and CK instead of Chytil and KK. CK didn't always play first line. Neither did Zibs, Zooks, JT Miller, etc. In fact if CK and Zibs are first line now then what is Bread playing on?

The reason I said he wants to succeed is that many here say he doesn't care.

If he doesn't become a star, by far the most likely reason is that his game peaked in junior while most others continued to improve.

 

[Levitate]

IMO if he's going to "pop" here it's going to take the coaches being a bit patient and him finding a comfort zone with some linemates he works with. There have been times over the past several years where he ended up looking quite good and flashing skills that got him drafted #1 overall and they all seemed to accompany him looking comfortable and confident, but he also seems to struggle to do that on his own to some extent. Which...is frustrating for a #1 overall but finding him that comfort zone should be an important to try

 

[NickyFotiu]

The reason I said he wants to succeed is that many here say he doesn't care.

If he doesn't become a star, by far the most likely reason is that his game peaked in junior while most others continued to improve.

I believe Laf wants to succeed like most people want to succeed but Id like to see the effort he put forth in the second half of 2020-21. Last season his effort level took a step backwards. Most NYR fans will support a guy if they see he is putting in 100%. I do have some doubts about the skating and puck handling skills Laf has showed so far in his first 3 years but if he gives 100% effort he will have my support.

 

[CLW]

For an extended time at that, unless we are struggling as a team. It kinda sucks because I want to see Kakko there, but getting Laf going is more important.

Getting Kakko going is just as important. The time for Kakko having to take a backseat to accommodate every one else has to come to an end too. But with Kakko I think the coaches can help more directly. I think Lav was talking about this when he said he wants the Rangers to become "unhinged" or "unhitched" in the o-zone ie Kakko eg has to get out of the corners start to find space and better areas to use with his puck possession skills/shot etc.

It's hard to pinpoint exactly what strengths Laf has, he's not exactly a highlight machine, but you could also say that he isn't terrible for not being on top of his game - as the decent stats point to.

I do think the key to unlocking Laf is in himself, as Greg02's article pointed at, and I think that is what is perplexing and annoying people, at least me.

 

[LOFIN]

What if Laf just doesn’t have another gear?

Maybe he doesn't, I'm just saying we should get clear verification of that. Like 15 games at least.

It sucks for Kakko, because he deserves it, but I think he can take it and he can still be effective with less minutes.

 

[Crease]

What worries me about Laf is he looked like the same style player in juniors—just with points. Watch his Q tape. It’s not as if the Rangers told him to park his skills to the side and focus on backchecking. He’s never been a burner or dangle machine. There’s no latent skill to resurrect.

 

[Levitate]

I believe Laf wants to succeed like most people want to succeed but Id like to see the effort he put forth in the second half of 2020-21. Last season his effort level took a step backwards. Most NYR fans will support a guy if they see he is putting in 100%. I do have some doubts about the skating and puck handling skills Laf has showed so far in his first 3 years but if he gives 100% effort he will have my support.

Yeah I dunno if that is really "effort" and "trying" though, versus something about those times and situations just clicked for him and he's struggled to find that same state of mind. He doesn't seem to consistently have that confidence to hold onto the puck and make plays and do things versus what seems like just trying to move the puck off to someone else quickly.

I do think he's trying but I also feel like he's watching the play a lot and struggling to fit into it for whatever reason. Then sometimes it works. Then it doesn't.

 

[Bacon Artemi Bravo]

What worries me about Laf is he looked like the same style player in juniors—just with points. Watch his Q tape. It’s not as if the Rangers told him to park his skills to the side and focus on backchecking. He’s never been a burner or dangle machine. There’s no latent skill to resurrect.

He showed elite playmaking and passing ability, for sure. He was able to control play, wanted the puck on his stick and was able to consistency create offense. The difference is, so far in the NHL he looks like he's playing hot potato and does not have the same confidence to try and make plays. I think he actually looks utterly and completely different in the NHL. Perhaps there is some skill in particular you are referring to but it was his overall offensive instinct / vision and compete that brought him great success.