What will Alexis Lafrenière bring to the New York Rangers?
It took a while to get to this point, but we were finally able to find out which team would be selecting first overall in the 2020 NHL Draft with the second phase of the NHL Draft Lottery. The first phase of the lottery, which was held back on June 26th, determined the order of picks 2–8 in this year’s draft and ended up with a placeholder team winning the first overall pick.
With a 24-team playoff format really being only the logical decision the NHL could do in a return to play plan, which of course included the best-of-five qualifying round this year, those 8 teams that ended up losing in the qualifiers all had an equal 12.5% chance to win the first overall pick since the other 7 teams not in the postseason did not win it.
Major concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic cut the rest of the regular season short all the way back in March and prevented the NHL from conducting the draft lottery like they do regularly in April. Who knows what could’ve happened if those regular season games ended up being played, but those games would’ve been extremely valuable for teams right on the bubble of playoff contention and it also could’ve shaped the draft order in a very different way compared to how it looks now, so there truly was no way the NHL could just conduct a normal lottery this year.
Less than a week after being swept by the Carolina Hurricanes in the qualifying round, the New York Rangers won the second phase of the lottery on Monday, a pretty good consolation prize for Rangers fans to help heal the pain of the sweep as the team will now have a shot to select franchise winger and the consensus first overall pick in this year’s draft for the last few years now, Alexis Lafrenière.
Since the team committed to a rebuild in 2018, things have moved along very quickly with the emergence of Mika Zibanejad as a superstar two-way center, the signing of Artemi Panarin, and their selection of Kaapo Kakko with the second overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft. The Rangers have also built an impressive prospect pool as they’ve stocked up on young talent at pretty much every position, and now with the high likelihood of them drafting phenom Alexis Lafrenière first overall in October, this is just the icing on the cake for their rebuild and gives them potential to become a dynasty level team in the long run.
I have a hard time believing that Lafrenière won’t hit 15–20+ goals and the 50–60 point mark next season not just because of his well-rounded skill set and maturity both physically and mentally, but because of the support system he’ll have in his first season with New York. For the most part they are a pretty young team that lacks experience, but there are still some really good veterans on the roster that can help him improve and be mentors to him as well, so there’s a pretty good blend of youth and veterans there for him on the team already.
Scouting Report
As I just mentioned, Lafrenière’s maturity both physically and mentally are two things that will allow his skill set to effectively translate over to the NHL next season, physically because he will be able to use his low center of gravity to his advantage in certain situations to stay strong on the puck and his skates. Since he processes the game at such a high level, sees the game at an elite level, and has high-end playmaking abilities to go along with that, that allows him to effectively create scoring opportunities for his teammates and find those narrow passing lanes through traffic and under pressure.
While it is known to be his “weakest” part of his game, Lafrenière’s skating ability combines speed, power, and many sharp movements to make up for a very dynamic and agile package. Lafrenière’s smooth edgework is key for him when maneuvering in tight spaces, but it’s very vital to his success as both a playmaker and a goal-scorer so he can create space and lanes for himself. It really helps him as a playmaker especially since he can use those open spaces to his advantage and create chances for his teammates.
Not only does his edgework allow him to create space for himself, but his quick footwork allows him to manipulate the minds and feet of opposing players in order to then use his edges to create that space. His footwork also helps him gain speed quickly through the neutral zone and get to top speed in an instant, but the movement he has with his feet bodes extremely well with his edgework since he can slow the game down or speed it up when he needs to at certain times.
We’ve talked about how dangerous of an east-west skater Lafrenière is and how he is able to create space so effectively for himself with how he moves laterally, but he also has top level straight-line speed which helps him consistently win loose puck battles and gain speed instantly with his powerful stride. This allows him to transition pucks quickly and gain the zone efficiently since he has the straight-line speed to separate himself from opponents, but he really does use his straight-line speed to his advantage in many different situations, whether it’s on the forecheck, defensively, or even through the neutral zone in order to create offense for his team.
A big reason why Lafrenière is such an elite playmaker is because of his vision, but secondly because of his puck skills. While he did show a ton of promise in his first season in the QMJHL as a goal-scorer, Lafrenière leaned towards more of a playmaking role over his last two seasons in Rimouski and has really able to emerge as a dominant player since then by using his playmaking abilities more often. Lafrenière reads and sees the play at an exceptionally high level as he’s constantly scanning his options with his head up when he has the puck in the offensive zone, but he has the poise to find and create passing lanes with ease in order to get passes through narrow lanes before opposing players have any chance of closing them down. You always have to be prepared as a linemate of his since Lafrenière delivers his passes with precision and accuracy, but rarely will he ever make soft passes unless a teammate is nearby.
Lafrenière also is extremely dangerous as a goal-scorer as he owns a very dynamic shot and isn’t afraid to use it from anywhere inside the offensive zone. At times when he uses it he has the ability to catch goaltenders off guard with the power and accuracy of his release, but his low center of gravity and hands really help him finish around the net and score in many different ways since he has the ability to finish in tight spaces and can easily maintain balance while doing so as well.
We all know how elite and well-rounded Lafrenière’s style of play is already, but there’s one part of his game that I think makes him so unique and separates him from past first overall picks. His competitiveness. Lafrenière has the work ethic, compete level, and the motor of a fourth line role player, but it’s something that makes him so dynamic in all facets of the game and makes him a constant threat all over the ice. Not too many elite players in the NHL have this ability since they rely much more on their skill compared to their physicality, but for obvious reasons however since they don’t really need to do too much in order to get the puck.
He also checks all the boxes for what you’d want in a player with his raw physical tools, his dual threat offensive abilities, compete level and his overall competitive drive, puck skills, skating, and of course his high-end hockey sense, and he checks all these boxes at an elite level as well.
There’s many attributes in his frame and his skill set that I think will allow him to translate pretty quickly to the NHL, obviously he’ll need to adjust a little bit at the start of the season like most rookies do, but he has all the tools you would want in a player to make an impact in the NHL right away. Given the fact that he owns such a multidimensional skill set, but is also willing to compete and use his motor to his advantage, he’ll have the ability to impact the game for the Rangers in many different ways next season depending on the role he is in.
NHL Potential: Franchise-level top-line winger
Comparison: This might not seem like your average comparison for a first overall pick since a majority of them tend to be compared to elite players around the league, but I see a lot of similarities between him and Jonathan Huberdeau of the Florida Panthers based purely on style.
