Last summer, during the Los Angeles Kings development camp, no player stood out like prospect Alex Laferriere.
Coming off a fantastic season at Harvard and his first taste of professional hockey, Laferriere quickly cemented himself as a dark horse candidate to make the Kings' roster.
A strong training camp and an injury to Viktor Arvidsson made that a reality.
A fight against Logan O'Connor during a hardworking performance and Laferriere was an instant fan favorite, and for good reason.
Laferriere suited up for 81 regular season games and all five playoff games for the Kings, moving up and down the lineup, but most frequently playing with Pierre-Luc Dubois.
On the surface, Laferriere was a massive success story for the Kings last season. A third-round pick that shocked everyone to make the team and become a regular in the lineup. It was a great story, but success feels like a bit of a stretch, Laferriere wasn't particularly good last season.
Let's start by diving into some numbers. Twelve goals and 11 assists from a first-year rookie, playing mostly bottom-six minutes and limited power play time is a good return. He also finished fifth on the team in hits with 113, an excellent return for a 22-year-old rookie.
However, the positive numbers end there. His -14 was the lowest on the team, five behind Dubois' second-worst -9.
Laferriere's -3.2 goals above replacement also landed him bottom of the team, posting negative even-strength offense and defense numbers per EvolvingHockey.
He was a negative impact on his most frequent linemates too, per the numbers.
Looking at Dubois, his numbers all saw an increase, including a 6% increase in goals for percentage, taking him from 45% to 51% and increasing all possession numbers.
For Laferriere, his numbers dipped even further when not playing with Dubois. His goals-for percentage dropped to 36% and his possession numbers dropped well below 50% away from Dubois.
This isn't just a bad fit for Laferriere and Dubois either. If we look at Kevin Fiala and Arthur Kaliyev, the two forwards Laferriere played with most frequently after Dubois, it paints the same picture.
Fiala saw a 6% increase in his possession numbers and a 10% increase in goals for percentage.
Kaliyev saw a smaller boost but still had increased numbers away from Laferriere.
I know some people don't put much weight into the numbers, but at some point, when nearly every metric says your teammates do better when not playing on your line, you didn't have a very good season.
Even to the eye test, Laferriere clearly struggled, especially down the stretch last season. The hard work never stopped for Laferriere, but he looked a little out of his depth on a few occasions.
None of this is to say Laferriere is a bad player and he doesn't have an NHL future, he does, but it was a poor season for him, even under the context of him being a rookie.
He shouldn't have played in all but one game last season. Alex Turcotte, Samuel Fagemo or Akil Thomas all would have benefited from time in his spot last season and it was a mistake to ride so heavily with Laferriere.
I understand the different reasons they did, Fagemo's waiver status and Turcotte and Thomas' injury concerns but the Kings should have found a way to cycle different players into Laferriere's spot.
I also understand why coaches like Laferriere, he plays an industrious, predictable game that coaches can rely on. You know what you're going to get from him every night, the problem is, what you got wasn't great.
Lafferiere will be a lock for the Kings' roster next season, but he should not be nailed into the top nine again. Other players, like the aforementioned forward group and potentially a free-agent signing, should challenge him for that spot.
We know what the floor is for Laferriere, a solid bottom-six checker, but I'm beginning to question the ceiling. He looks more like a future Trevor Lewis replacement than an Alex Iafallo replacement.
That is fine, you need good depth in the league to win, but the Kings need to recognize what he is and not overuse him.
There's potential the goal-scoring Laferriere has shown at lower-levels pops next season and he's a bonafide top-nine player, but I'm not as confident as I once was in that goalscoring.
Laferriere was a great story last season, but barring some big improvements over the summer, he shouldn't be anchored to Dubois wing next season, or have a guaranteed spot in the top nine.