Lafrenière Re-Re-Reset: 2023–24 Edition

[The Dude]

16 hours ago, Br4d said:

 

And he's still growing.  That's the cool part.  He's 22 years old and he finally caught on to the NHL game.

 

Part of the problem may have been playing with Kakko and Chytil as much as he did.  We saw them as the kid line and thought the synergies were there but in truth Kakko has been a total albatross for just about anybody he has been with and Chytil was kind of bad before the '21-'22 playoffs and also absent due to injury a fair amount also.

 

Panarin has been a constant plus for Laffy and Trocheck seems to fit alongside him as well and both are established vets with few holes in their offensive game.

Not sure the Trocheck/Panarin combo has been healed andis working flawlessly. They haven't looked so hot in the last 2-3 games.  Need Chytil back. 

[siddious]

2 hours ago, The Dude said:

Not sure the Trocheck/Panarin combo has been healed andis working flawlessly. They haven't looked so hot in the last 2-3 games.  Need Chytil back. 

Trochek gets 30 chances a game all Set uo

by Panarin. He just sucks at finishing them 90% of the time. 
 

with that said Panarin hasn’t been shooting as much the last few games. 

[BrooksBurner]

Delete

Edited November 25, 2023 by BrooksBurner

[siddious]

4 minutes ago, BrooksBurner said:

Delete

The post is gone. The shame remains. 

[BrooksBurner]

Lafreniere is going to be a future PPG+ player here. 0 points today, but just setting up chances left and right. Just wait until he’s soaking up PP1 minutes too.

[RangersIn7]

39 minutes ago, BrooksBurner said:

Lafreniere is going to be a future PPG+ player here. 0 points today, but just setting up chances left and right. Just wait until he’s soaking up PP1 minutes too.

Even when he’s not on the scoresheet he’s been excellent.

 

[Albatrosss]

3 hours ago, BrooksBurner said:

Lafreniere is going to be a future PPG+ player here. 0 points today, but just setting up chances left and right. Just wait until he’s soaking up PP1 minutes too.

Future captain!

[jsm7302]

This just isn't the same guy as the past couple of years. Maybe he was abducted by aliens for the past couple of years....

 

Glad he made it back from planet Isntverygoodathockey and is doing his part to put together a special run.

[RangersIn7]

2 minutes ago, jsm7302 said:

This just isn't the same guy as the past couple of years. Maybe he was abducted by aliens for the past couple of years....

 

Glad he made it back from planet Isntverygoodathockey and is doing his part to put together a special run.

The player in there was always there.

 

[Pete]

5 minutes ago, RangersIn7 said:

The player in there was always there.

 

That doesn't mean anything. 

[The Dude]

He's doing much better. But-

 

 

[RichieNextel305]

I think the drastic thing about this is how quick he looks. He’s not a burner and was never touted as one. But he definitely has improved his skating. He’s in hard and fast on the forecheck. On top of that, he’s been great at reading plays and causing turnovers. And that’s not even mentioning the strides he’s taken offensively. He’s playing with a ton of confidence. He was great today. Had a couple of great chances himself, set up a few others, specifically that backhand sauce he gave Panarin that Ullmark robbed. He has consistently been one of our better players every night. Really glad to see it.

[RangersIn7]

10 hours ago, Pete said:

That doesn't mean anything. 

It’s the sound of one hand clapping. 

[Albatrosss]

5 hours ago, RichieNextel305 said:

I think the drastic thing about this is how quick he looks. He’s not a burner and was never touted as one. But he definitely has improved his skating. He’s in hard and fast on the forecheck. On top of that, he’s been great at reading plays and causing turnovers. And that’s not even mentioning the strides he’s taken offensively. He’s playing with a ton of confidence. He was great today. Had a couple of great chances himself, set up a few others, specifically that backhand sauce he gave Panarin that Ullmark robbed. He has consistently been one of our better players every night. Really glad to see it.

Eventually all those passes he makes will be converted into goals and he’ll have more points than bread. 

maybe

[Pete]

1 hour ago, RangersIn7 said:

It’s the sound of one hand clapping. 

How many fortune cookies came with your order?

[RangersIn7]

4 minutes ago, Pete said:

How many fortune cookies came with your order?

Just a couple 

 

However, one of them said…”Good if boy meet girl in park. Better if boy park meat in girl.”

[RangersIn7]

In all seriousness though, and while he totally underperformed over his first 3 seasons, I always felt like he just needed some things to bring this out but what he’s doing now was always in there. 
Just a question of bringing it out.

Part if it is him and what he needed to do.

I think part of it is coaching.

And the other part was it just takes time for some guys to figure out how he needed to play and how to go about doing so to get where he’s at now. 
 

But it was there. 

[Br4d]

6 hours ago, RichieNextel305 said:

I think the drastic thing about this is how quick he looks. He’s not a burner and was never touted as one. But he definitely has improved his skating. He’s in hard and fast on the forecheck. On top of that, he’s been great at reading plays and causing turnovers. And that’s not even mentioning the strides he’s taken offensively. He’s playing with a ton of confidence. He was great today. Had a couple of great chances himself, set up a few others, specifically that backhand sauce he gave Panarin that Ullmark robbed. He has consistently been one of our better players every night. Really glad to see it.

 

I think he was always about this speed on the forecheck.  The differences I see are in his acceleration at mid-ice both going down and coming back.

 

You're right about the confidence.  He's making fast accurate passes now and at some point that will start to produce points.  Right now the only person that has caught up to the speed of his reads is Panarin.  Lots of people are getting handcuffed by the passes because they're there a second faster than they were ready for.

[Ozzy]

I keep coming back to:  He just didn't like playing for Gallant.  Look at Debrusk...same shit.  He hated fucking Cassidy with a passion, and now he plays his balls off for Montgomery.

 

Now that some of the cards are starting to fall, we see what a flaming buffoon Gallant was behind the bench.

[RangersIn7]

5 minutes ago, Br4d said:

 

I think he was always about this speed on the forecheck.  The differences I see are in his acceleration at mid-ice both going down and coming back.

 

You're right about the confidence.  He's making fast accurate passes now and at some point that will start to produce points.  Right now the only person that has caught up to the speed of his reads is Panarin.  Lots of people are getting handcuffed by the passes because they're there a second faster than they were ready for.

You could always see the instincts.

 

Just wasn’t able to, for whatever reasons, get that to translate into consistent results.

 

Now I think he’s figured out how to do so, and what to do in order to make that a real thing.

Panarin helps too

[Albatrosss]

Panarin helps for sure but Laf is just comfortable 

[RangersIn7]

7 minutes ago, Albatrosss said:

Panarin helps for sure but Laf is just comfortable 

More confident than comfortable… but yeah.

 

Hes found his game and his place 

[Br4d]

42 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

I keep coming back to:  He just didn't like playing for Gallant.  Look at Debrusk...same shit.  He hated fucking Cassidy with a passion, and now he plays his balls off for Montgomery.

 

Now that some of the cards are starting to fall, we see what a flaming buffoon Gallant was behind the bench.

 

112 pts and 107 pts.

 

GG was a vet's coach and the vets did very well under him.  The kids really not so much.

 

I think Laviolette has taken a lot of the pressure off of Laffy by defining his role really well and giving him clear instructions.

 

Kakko still hasn't broken out and it's unclear what would unstick him.

[RangersIn7]

Just now, Br4d said:

 

112 pts and 107 pts.

 

GG was a vet's coach and the vets did very well under him.  The kids really not so much.

 

I think Laviolette has taken a lot of the pressure off of Laffy by defining his role really well and giving him clear instructions.

 

Kakko still hasn't broken out and it's unclear what would unstick him.

He just needs to make a few small changes to his approach… I.e. shooting more… abd have a few go in. 
 

The narrative that he’s a disaster or a bad hockey player or what have you, while there’s some truth there… it’s actually wrong.

 

He does so much well.

The only thing that hasn’t kicked in is the scoring/offensive production. 
But he’s playing well

It will come 

 

[Ozzy]

5 minutes ago, Br4d said:

 

112 pts and 107 pts.

 

GG was a vet's coach and the vets did very well under him.  The kids really not so much.

 

I think Laviolette has taken a lot of the pressure off of Laffy by defining his role really well and giving him clear instructions.

 

Kakko still hasn't broken out and it's unclear what would unstick him.

 

Kakko is a deer in headlighs right now, but he's going to prosper under Lavvy as well.  I saw him taking more shots and getting to the net a bit more the last couple of games.  The kid is defensively responsible with huge upside offensive potential.

 

He'll be an inexpensive luxury as we move forward.  But he's going to break out, and when he does, it will be in a big way, because he has size, and very good shot.

 

I actually could see him like Vatrano if and when he starts firing the puck more often.

Edited November 26, 2023 by Ozzy