New York Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant sent a strong message to forward Alexis Lafrenière on Thursday, scratching the 2020 No. 1 overall pick against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“I want him to be better,” Gallant told reporters Wednesday. “(Lafrenière) has gotten some chances to play with good people, and he’s played well at times, but it’s inconsistent.”
When the Rangers picked Lafrenière at the top of the draft, he was heralded as a key figure of the team’s return to contention, but his young career has been marked by the inconsistency that led to his removal from the lineup.
Lafrenière, who has 17 points in 36 games in 2022-23, has averaged 0.4 points per game over his two-plus NHL seasons. He went eight consecutive games without scoring before getting scratched, the seventh goal drought of at least that length in his career.
Situations like this lead to debates about whether the team is giving the player a chance to succeed. In Lafrenière’s case, there is an element of that. Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider also play left wing, which limits Lafrenière’s opportunities on offence.
On the power play, for example, Lafrenière has made little impact, as the No. 1 unit of Panarin, Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Vincent Trocheck and Adam Fox rarely leaves the ice. Only three of Lafrenière’s 69 career points have come on the power play.
To Gallant’s point, though, Lafrenière has not taken advantage of playing with the Rangers’ top forwards at even strength. At the start of this season, Gallant put Lafrenière with Panarin and Trocheck after Vitali Kravtsov suffered an injury. Despite sharing 153:01 of ice time with two of the Rangers’ best players and starting 46.3 per cent of his shifts in the offensive zone, Lafrenière scored one 5-on-5 goal on 24 shots on net.
Lafrenière was at his best leading up to and during the Rangers’ three-round playoff run last season. After being scratched in a late-season game, Lafrenière responded with six points in New York’s final seven regular-season contests, including four goals.
In the playoffs, Lafrenière and his “Kid Line” cohorts, fellow first-rounders Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko, were clutch performers, outscoring opponents 10-5. Lafrenière was a handful on the forecheck, leading the Rangers with 2.3 defensive plays per 20 minutes in the offensive zone at 5-on-5. His awareness in all three zones was also on display.
But it all comes back to that lack of consistency. The “Kid Line” has a 10-5 edge in on-ice goals so far this season, but Lafrenière has contributed two goals and one primary assist in 155:09.
Asked about his decision to have Lafrenière practice with fourth-liners Wednesday, Gallant said that “sometimes it’s a wake-up call for the kids.”
Lafrenière, however, was the only one of the “kids” who Gallant demoted. On Thursday, Kakko joined up with Kreider and Zibanejad, a combination that has controlled 56.5 per cent of expected goals this season. Chytil, whose 2.5 scoring chances per 20 at 5-on-5 leads all Rangers forwards, centred Kravtsov and Julien Gauthier against the Lightning.
It is fair to wonder if Lafrenière, whose entry-level contract expires after this season, needs to leave New York in order to reach his potential. Regular opportunities in the top six and on the power play do not appear to be in the offing on Broadway.
Data from Sportlogiq
