Alexis Lafreniere is on pace for a career season with the Rangers after taking tremendous strides.
Alexis Lafreniere is on pace for a career season with the Rangers after taking tremendous strides.
New York Rangers forward Alexis Lafreniere always had the skill and hockey sense to be an elite NHL player.
When the Rangers selected him first overall in the 2020 NHL Draft, they hoped his skillset would be the key to speeding up a short-lived rebuild.
Through his first three seasons with the Blueshirts, we saw glimpses of what made Lafreniere a treasured prospect. His point totals have gone up in each of his first three seasons, but they have not reached the high bar expected of a number-one draft pick.
With the coaching this offseason, Peter Laviolette combined Lafreniere with Artemi Panarin, sloting Filip Chytil in the middle until injuries forced him out for the remainder of the season.
Veteran Vincent Trocheck has stepped into that role and stepped up spectacularly.
Together, the trio has become one of the most dominant lines in hockey, creating chances and often scoring nightly.
The biggest positive, however, is the emergence of Lafreniere and his playmaking ability catapulting to new heights.
His 36 points in 59 games have him three away from last year’s total of 39, which was a career-high. The total may seem underwhelming at a glance, but the reality is Lafreniere could easily have 10-15 more points on the season with the way he has played.
At times, Lafreniere has struggled to finish off high-danger chances, getting robbed from in close. His teammates have followed suit, failing to bury grade-A chances set up by the young Canadian.
The Quebec native, after scoring in each of the last two games, has 17 goals on the season.
According to Natural Stat Trick, Lafreniere’s Individual Expected Goals (iXG) are 19.21
Even the analytics are showing that he is snakebitten.
When diving deeper into the analytics, you realize what a good season Lafreniere has had.
He ranks fourth on the team in Individual Corsi For (iCF), with 289, and Individual Scoring Chances For (iSCF) with 194. The 22-year-old is third in Individual High-Danger Chances For (iHDCF) with 92 and tied for second in Rush Attempts with 12.
His play has progressed monumentally this season.
Puck possession and zone entries have been his bread and better. Lafreniere has entered the zone and often created something out of nothing, giving teammates open looks.
Lafreniere has yet to receive actual power-play minutes with the Rangers loaded group on power-play one, which has hindered his point total. 31 of his 36 points have been at even strength (5v5, 4v4, 3v3), making him a valuable five-on-five asset for a Blueshirts squad that has struggled to create at full strength.
Together with Panarin and Trocheck, Lafreniere’s game and confidence have exponentially grown. The line has a 59.04 Corsi For percentage (CF%) and 53.97 Goals-For percentage (GF%) while on ice.
They dominate in every metric and have been the one thing that has been genuinely consistent all season.
They have been so good that all three seem poised to reach career highs in points this year. Panarin’s 78 points put him on pace for 114, blowing past his career-high of 96.
Trocheck’s 55 points put him on pace for 78 points, scraping past his career-high of 75.
Lafreniere set his career-high in goals (19) in 2021-22, and his benchmark for assists (23) was set in 2022-23. Both totals should be surpassed this season, and deservedly so. He is doing this while shooting at just 11 percent, the lowest total of his career.
Looking past the stats, this has been the first overall pick’s best season in the NHL.
The consistency has been there, the confidence with the puck has emerged, and his skill set is now freely displayed with his newfound confidence in his game and trust in his linemates. The transformation each year is great to see, as the youngster gets better every season.
At the perfect time, Lafreniere is finally coming into his own at the NHL level. The Rangers have Stanley Cup aspirations, and if they are to win the ultimate prize, Lafreniere will be pivotal to their success.
His two-goal game against the Devils last week hopefully catalyzes the points and goals to start coming at their expected rate. And if that happens, Lafreniere’s impact will grow to the level the Rangers have envisioned for their first overall selection.