2024-02-16 23:38:45
EAST RUTHERFORD | Three years ago, when Alexis Lafrenière played his first season in the NHL, evil tongues said that he should have stayed in the QMJHL and that he did not have a season worthy of a first overall pick.
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However, Lafrenière had amassed 21 points in 56 games. At 18 years old. It’s not so bad. And in subsequent seasons, he continued to increase his production a little each year.
Here he is at 22 years old in his fourth season with the New York Rangers and, barring an injury, he will easily have the best season of his career. He can even think about reaching 50 points.
It may not yet live up to the expectations of his detractors, but not all top picks are created equal and, most importantly, Lafrenière finds himself on a very talented team where everyone is fighting for playing time. ice.
Good company
“It’s going well, for sure I’m playing with good players who help me a lot and we have a lot of ice time,” agrees the left winger after leaving the outdoor ice at MetLife Stadium.
He is indeed in good company since he plays alongside Vincent Trocheck and Artemi Panarin.
The latter also believes that the Quebecer from Saint-Eustache is really coming out of his cocoon this season.
“This year he’s a different player. He is more confident, he has more ice time and he is growing every day. It’s good to see him working hard.”
Learn
The Rangers also have Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejab, Jacob Trouba and Adam Fox in their ranks. This is an experienced and talented team and Lafrenière wants to get the most out of them.
“We have stars in the league and being able to play behind them and see how they behave on and off the ice, it helps a lot when you’re a young player.”
Arriving in the Big Apple at 18 years old with the sole objective of carving out a position on the team, the man who had three thunderous seasons with the Rimouski Océanic in the QMJHL took his time to develop.
“I remained patient with the goal of learning and improving each season. Here I can learn from the best.”
Adjustment
We repeat, no player develops at the same speed and that does not mean that a player who develops slowly will not explode. Throw tomatoes at us, but in the not too distant future, Lafrenière will be a very important piece of the Rangers puzzle.
And it will be possible because he will have had time to develop and, above all, to adjust to his new professional reality.
“I’m more used to the speed of the National League now. You don’t have a lot of time to make the plays, but there’s time, you just have to be ready.”
“The guys are coming at you so fast. In juniors, there was a little more time and I could keep the puck for a long time, but here, you have to make all the little plays.
Same situation
We could have put Lafrenière in contact with Juraj Slafkovlsy. After all, the young Slovakian was judged in a bit of the same way in his first year with the Canadian, last season. What would Lafrenière have said to him if he had spoken to him?
“You have to be patient and try not to lose confidence, regardless of the ice time. The important thing is to learn and improve and things will get better and better and confidence will be greater. He played against us Thursday night and I found him solid.”
Even though he is in New York, Lafrenière knows what has been said about him at home, but he has isolated himself from there to concentrate on his task.
“I try to stay away from social media, but sometimes you see things slip through.”
Just block out the noise in that time and it seems able to do it.
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