Expectations remain high for New York Rangers forward Alexis Lafreniere, who not only has to live up to his status as the No. 1 overall pick from the 2020 draft, but also a $7.45MM AAV contract that runs through the 2031-32 season. Although his tenure in New York has been largely uneven, Lafreniere concluded last season on a high note.
His 57 points tied a career high, overall, but what was more impressive is what happened after the Rangers removed star winger Artemi Panarin from their lineup. Panarin was scratched for roster management reasons on January 28, and traded to the Los Angeles Kings shortly afterwards.
The move cleared open a key role on the power play for Lafreniere, a crucial development for a player who had been largely excluded from top-unit power play duties throughout his NHL career. Lafreniere responded, scoring 28 points in the 28 games New York played without Panarin.
Ten of those points came on the power play.
The key for Lafreniere is building on the stellar form he displayed in the later portion of last season, and the team’s offseason additions will certainly help. While New York traded away pivot Vincent Trocheck to the Utah Mammoth, they added Pavel Dorofeyev in a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights.
According to Peter Baugh of The Athletic, the most likely lineup scenario sees Lafreniere sharing the top line with Dorofeyev and No. 1 center Mika Zibanejad. If Lafreniere can develop chemistry with Dorofeyev, including on the power play where Dorofeyev is especially lethal, Lafreniere might very well be able to repeat his point-per-game performance from his final 28 contests of 2025-26.
Other notes from around the hockey world:
Although the Bruins made some strides in the offseason, the most significant coming in the form of a trade for Utah winger JJ Peterka, the team still lacks the kind of true No. 1 center all Stanley Cup contenders require, according to Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe. Dupont writes that while centers Pavel Zacha and Elias Lindholm are credible top-six players in their own right, neither is the kind of do-it-all force that Stanley Cup contenders require.
The top centers of this year’s final four teams are Sebastian Aho, Jack Eichel, Nathan MacKinnon, and Nick Suzuki. The Bruins don’t have a pivot who comes close to those talents, but prospect forward James Hagens has a chance to be elite; only, that is likely to come at some point in the future.
Right now, Hagens will in all likelihood continue playing on the wing, and the Bruins will press forward with two capable, but less-than-elite top-six centers.
Merrimack College announced yesterday that 23-year-old forward Jacob Frasca has joined the program, meaning the team has added a 6’5″ center who has spent the last two full seasons playing professional hockey in the ECHL. The Ontario native joins an increasing number of players who have elected to make college commitments despite turning pro.
In some cases, the players are former college hockey players who had remaining eligibility. In other cases, players like Frasca turned pro in leagues such as the ECHL at a time when their experience in the CHL made them ineligible to compete in the NCAA.
Now, players with CHL experience are no longer ineligible to play college hockey. That has meant skaters such as Frasca, who scored 69 points in 68 games for the 2022-23 Barrie Colts, have an open door to play in the NCAA.