Rangers Draft [LW] Alexis Lafreniere in 1st Rd. (1st) Pick

Name: Alexis Lafreni?re

Position: LW

Shoots: L

Current Team: Rimouski (QMJHL)

Elite Prospects Profile: https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/296697/alexis-lafreniere

Current Statistics

HockeyDB.com Page: https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=208990

Team Player Page: https://oceanic.qc.ca/players/16991

When you watch him play, it’s tough to find any faults. He’s a powerful skater, a physical presence, an elite puck-mover and can drive to the net with force. And despite his superstar status, he’s not afraid to dig in the corners.

 

Lafreniere’s agent, Emilie Castonguay, said it’s his hockey I.Q., vision and compete level that really separate him from his peers and leads him to be such a next-level playmaker.

 

“When you have a player like that, it makes everybody around him better. Just the way that he’s able to see the game,” she said. “For me, when I look at a player – especially of his talent – the first thing you notice is every time he’s on the ice or every time he touches the puck, the game just slows down. There’s not a lot of players that are able to do that. Since he was very young, every time he’s been on the ice at every level, that’s what he’s been able to do.”

Link: https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/prospect-interest-makes-top-ranked-alexis-lafreniere-special/

Serge Beausoleil, GM/coach of the Rimouski Oc?anic: “He sees the ice so well. He’s a huge playmaker. He’s a play ahead of everybody, and anybody can play with him. He has a tremendous wrister too, so he’s a threat on the ice wherever he is. He has a huge compete level, he wants to be a difference-maker."

 

Andr? Tourigny, Coach of the Ottawa 67’s, assistant coach of Canada’s 2020 U20 team, coach of Canada’s 2018 U18 team: “Alexis is many things. You look at him and think 'OK, he’s good,' but then the pace raises and you think 'he’s still good,' and then it raises again and you’re like 'he’s still good!' He’s the best player at any pace of the game. He’s a big-game player. He has the passion and the ability to be a game-breaker whatever the stakes are. He’s a different animal because of his poise, his compete level, he wants the puck in those key situations.”

 

Alexis Lafreniere: “I think my vision is my biggest strength, my ability to see the ice and find my teammates.”

 

NHL scout: “He’s a guy who has continued to raise his game over time. He’s elite and has separated himself from his peers.”

 

NHL scout: “He’s exceptional in nearly every regard. His straight-line speed is average, but his edges, balance and work in traffic is excellent. He gets to the hard areas without fear and makes high-end plays in traffic.”

 

NHL scout: “He’s a really competitive kid, he brings it every night. He’s a natural goal-scorer. He can play a physical game, he goes to the scoring areas out of natural instincts. He has the skill, he has a great brain. He’s produced from such a young age.”

Link: https://theathletic.com/1713841/2020/04/08/pronmans-scouting-report-why-alexis-lafreniere-is-a-top-nhl-prospect/?article_source=search&search_query=lafreniere

Yeah he has no skills whatsoever. Nothing stands out, don't know how he ended up being a top pick, just such a joke. Plus he looks chubby, you're 19 and just drafted number 1, get the fuck in shape. He looks like he might be able to become Dominic Moore type player.

At least with Kakko you could see what he was trying to do, but failing at. You could see what his game was meant to be. With this kid he's not even trying and failing at anything, he just sucks. Never even has the puck. Kravtsov had the puck on his stick more last night in his first game than this kid has in the past month.

He's god damned awful. Belongs nowhere near the NHL. Please, for the love of fuck, don't be Yakupov 2.0.

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This is the problem with incompetent bloggers that never actually watched prospects.

He’s being told to play a completely different game.

Phil, tomorrow, youre now a railway engineer. If you aren’t the best in 2 months, fuck off. Oh, and Howden will guide you on your journey. Good luck!

This is the problem with incompetent bloggers that never actually watched prospects.

 

He’s being told to play a completely different game.

 

Phil, tomorrow, youre now a railway engineer. If you aren’t the best in 2 months, fuck off. Oh, and Howden will guide you on your journey. Good luck!

Bloggers have what effect on Lafreniere besides your distaste for them?

What is he being asked to do that's so different? He's being asked to play LW on an offensive minded line. Nobody is forcing him to dump the puck in every time he gets it and send it to weird places where his teammates have no hope of retrieving it. Sometimes he does such strange things with the puck that I wonder if I've seen a touted player with less hockey sense. I'm baffled as to what he's trying to do sometimes. Nobody is forcing him fling passes to nobody. That's what makes it even more frustrating. If he didn't have the skills fine, but where is this so called "elite" mind or sense?

So disappointing to get that incredible feeling of winning that lottery and feeling like our franchise was altered forever in that moment and all the talk of "oh he can put up 50 points this season" and we end up with this. I nearly jumped through my ceiling in that moment and it was for this. All for some chubby, slow, teenager that has absolutely no clue what he's doing on a hockey rink.

This is the problem with incompetent bloggers that never actually watched prospects.

 

He’s being told to play a completely different game.

 

Phil, tomorrow, youre now a railway engineer. If you aren’t the best in 2 months, fuck off. Oh, and Howden will guide you on your journey. Good luck!

You say that like he hasn't played with skilled players repeatedly and been given opportunities to succeed.

He's failed everywhere with everyone and he looks absolutely miserable doing so. Brett Howden sucks and looks like a better hockey player most nights.

At the rate this season is going, the only thing Lafreniere is going to lead the team in is lazy dump ins followed by slow line changes. I've never seen a first overall pick look this disinterested and unengaged at even the basic level of the game.

They drafted Xavier LaFlamme and he doesn't even do drugs.

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You say that like he hasn't played with skilled players repeatedly and been given opportunities to succeed.

 

He's failed everywhere with everyone and he looks absolutely miserable doing so. Brett Howden sucks and looks like a better hockey player most nights.

 

At the rate this season is going, the only thing Lafreniere is going to lead the team in is lazy dump ins followed by slow line changes. I've never seen a first overall pick look this disinterested and unengaged at even the basic level of the game.

 

They drafted Xavier LaFlamme and he doesn't even do drugs.

 

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It's been the same problem with every single young forward under Quinn. They arent playing, they're thinking. There is no time to think in the NHL. Thinking instead of moving puts you a partial second behind.

What is he being asked to do that's so different? He's being asked to play LW on an offensive minded line. Nobody is forcing him to dump the puck in every time he gets it and send it to weird places where his teammates have no hope of retrieving it. Sometimes he does such strange things with the puck that I wonder if I've seen a touted player with less hockey sense. I'm baffled as to what he's trying to do sometimes. Nobody is forcing him fling passes to nobody. That's what makes it even more frustrating. If he didn't have the skills fine, but where is this so called "elite" mind or sense?

 

So disappointing to get that incredible feeling of winning that lottery and feeling like our franchise was altered forever in that moment and all the talk of "oh he can put up 50 points this season" and we end up with this. I nearly jumped through my ceiling in that moment and it was for this. All for some chubby, slow, teenager that has absolutely no clue what he's doing on a hockey rink.

Let me look for the Kakko interview where he discussed that, essentially, yeah, they are told to dump the puck in.

He's a scrub right now.

Doesn't mean he'll be a scrub next year.

Seguin had 22 points as a third line wing in his rookie year on really good Bruins team. Similar situation where a top pick doesn't come into a top 6 / PP role.

Let me look for the Kakko interview where he discussed that, essentially, yeah, they are told to dump the puck in.

He said by the end of the year, they told him to simplify his game. By the end of the year he was already dog shit and any coach would tell a player who's struggling the same thing.

That's the Quinn hater translation of what wad actually in the interview.

 

He said by the end of the year, they told him to simplify his game. By the end of the year he was already dog shit and any coach would tell a player who's struggling the same thing.

why dont you translate what that means then.

And how it would relate to Lafreniere.

Thanks,

He just turned 19.

While I agree he looks nothing like a first over all pick, I’m not panicking yet. Especially after seeing Kakkos season last year vs this year.

I will agree that he looks out of shape too and that scouting reports and what I’m seeing are very different but im still being positive.

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That's the Quinn hater translation of what wad actually in the interview.

 

He said by the end of the year, they told him to simplify his game. By the end of the year he was already dog shit and any coach would tell a player who's struggling the same thing.

Right because for most of the season, he spent time trying shit and getting absolutely stuffed because he was slow on his feet and slow in the brain.

It's been the same problem with every single young forward under Quinn. They arent playing, they're thinking. There is no time to think in the NHL. Thinking instead of moving puts you a partial second behind.

I get that, and I don't disagree. I've been on the "fire Quinn" train for months now specifically because I don't think he's getting enough out of young players who mean the most to the franchise long-term. Yes, he's turned Buch and Strome and others into fine NHLers, and deserves credit for that, but those guys have much shorter career windows and mean significantly less relative to Kakko, Kravtsov, Miller, and Lafreniere.

But Lafreniere looks absolutely awful no matter what he's been asked to do and regardless of his line mates. Both things can be true at once.

He just turned 19.

 

While I agree he looks nothing like a first over all pick, I’m not panicking yet. Especially after seeing Kakkos season last year vs this year.

 

I will agree that he looks out of shape too and that scouting reports and what I’m seeing are very different but im still being positive.

 

 

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Kakko is on pace for 8 goals and 11 points in 49 games. He's actually regressed in P/GP from this season (0.23) to last (0.35). These players weren't drafted because they get "good looks" or to see marginal year-to-year improvement. They were taken for their apparent game-breaking abilities that have yet to translate in either case.

To call it concerning would be a massive understatement. It's terrifying.

why dont you translate what that means then.

And how it would relate to Lafreniere.

 

Thanks,

Lafrienere isn't Kakko. Their issues are different.

skate, shoot, go to the net.