Lafrenière Re-Re-Reset: 2023–24 Edition

[The Dude]

2 hours ago, Pete said:

Well maybe you should be comparing their temperaments, because part of it is work ethic. They both have it, Laferniere doesn't. 

 

Overall age does not dictate mental maturity, there are some people who are more mature at 19 or 20 then some 23 or 24-year-olds. Clearly there are players taking camp more seriously than Lafreniere. 

 

Cullye and Othmann are both showing a level of dedication to getting better that Lafreniere is not. That's temperament. That's maturity. They are already taking their careers more seriously than he is. They both look better this year than they did last year. Laugh has looked the same since he got here. Does not look one but different between rookie camp and this camp. 

[RJWantsTheCup]

It’s time to seriously think about moving Donut Hole and Jones.  Gustafsson is beating out Jones.  Cuylle and Othmann deserve a spot over Lafraniere.  

[Pete]

17 minutes ago, RJWantsTheCup said:

It’s time to seriously think about moving Donut Hole and Jones.  Gustafsson is beating out Jones.  Cuylle and Othmann deserve a spot over Lafraniere.  

While I agree with this, I think the best place for Cuylle and Othmann out of the gate is Hartford. Moreso Othmann, Cuylle just needs a little more seasoning. I think he should be a mid-season call up. Othmann more towards end of season depending on how he does down there. 

[RJWantsTheCup]

16 minutes ago, Pete said:

While I agree with this, I think the best place for Cuylle and Othmann out of the gate is Hartford. Moreso Othmann, Cuylle just needs a little more seasoning. I think he should be a mid-season call up. Othmann more towards end of season depending on how he does down there. 

They may need some more seasoning especially Othmann but to maximize a return on Jones it would be better to trade him with Lafraniere and vice versa.  Jones isn’t suited to be a 7th D.  That should be Harpur.  And I see very little reason to keep hoping Donut Hole wakes up one day.  

[BrooksBurner]

27 minutes ago, Pete said:

While I agree with this, I think the best place for Cuylle and Othmann out of the gate is Hartford. Moreso Othmann, Cuylle just needs a little more seasoning. I think he should be a mid-season call up. Othmann more towards end of season depending on how he does down there. 

Othmann yes but Cuylle no. Cuylle has put successful time in the A in already, and is probably ready to contribute. He should make the team.

 

Othmann can go down and get top minutes and PP time. It won’t even take long if he’s ready. He’ll light it up. If he doesn’t, he stays down there and it’s more obvious he wasn’t ready for the NHL.

 

 

[Pete]

5 minutes ago, BrooksBurner said:

Othmann yes but Cuylle no. Cuylle has put successful time in the A in already, and is probably ready to contribute. He should make the team.

 

Othmann can go down and get top minutes and PP time. It won’t even take long if he’s ready. He’ll light it up. If he doesn’t, he stays down there and it’s more obvious he wasn’t ready for the NHL.

 

 

It depends on the role. Cuylle is better off in the A on the top line than NHL 4th liner. Third line and PK, that's a different conversation. 

[BrooksBurner]

25 minutes ago, Pete said:

It depends on the role. Cuylle is better off in the A on the top line than NHL 4th liner. Third line and PK, that's a different conversation. 

Agree there. I’ll make the argument he should be on the 3rd line if Lafreniere opens on the right.

[Br4d]

2 hours ago, RJWantsTheCup said:

They may need some more seasoning especially Othmann but to maximize a return on Jones it would be better to trade him with Lafraniere and vice versa.  Jones isn’t suited to be a 7th D.  That should be Harpur.  And I see very little reason to keep hoping Donut Hole wakes up one day.  

 

Harpur really feels like Laviolette's 7th D.  He doesn't drop the gloves often but he is huge and he has shown the tendency to drop his gloves when somebody else is being picked on.

[The Dude]

5 hours ago, Pete said:

While I agree with this, I think the best place for Cuylle and Othmann out of the gate is Hartford. Moreso Othmann, Cuylle just needs a little more seasoning. I think he should be a mid-season call up. Othmann more towards end of season depending on how he does down there. 

You've been right lately.  But not here. Reward the players who are playing like they are supposed to.  

 

Walk away from Pitlick.  Trade or bench Lafrenière.  Give these guys the roster spots they deserve, until they show otherwise. No harm in sending them down if they need it later on .

 

Belzile can be called up if need be. Pitlick too if he clears waivers (I think he would). 

 

The time to inject the needed abilities and style of these 2 is at the start of the year. Unless we are thinking things are toxic in that locker-room, I think these 2 have earned a spot. 

Edited October 1, 2023 by The Dude

[RJWantsTheCup]

Pitlick can be the 13th forward but I don’t think Cuylle or Othmann belongs on the 4th line.  Keep Cuylle up on 3rd line and let Othmann start in Hartford and make the Rangers call him up if he tears it up there.  

[Pete]

17 minutes ago, The Dude said:

You've been right lately.  But not here. Reward the players who are playing like they are supposed to.  

 

Walk away from Pitlick.  Trade or bench Lafrenière.  Give these guys the roster spots they deserve, until they show otherwise. No harm in sending them down if they need it later on .

 

Belzile can be called up if need be. Pitlick too if he clears waivers (I think he would). 

 

The time to inject the needed abilities and style of these 2 is at the start of the year. Unless we are thinking things are toxic in that locker-room, I think these 2 have earned a spot. 

Pitlick is a 4th liner. Neither of those players should be on the fourth line in the NHL instead of the top six in the AHL. 

[The Dude]

20 minutes ago, Pete said:

Pitlick is a 4th liner. Neither of those players should be on the fourth line in the NHL instead of the top six in the AHL. 

Right, but you can slide Vesey or Goodrow down to 4th line (as one is likely to start on a 3rd line of some sort) to accommodate either rookie. Thus, pushing Pitlick to extra forward or Hartford. 

 

Kreider- Zibanejad- Lafrenière/Kakko 

Panarin- Chytil- Wheeler 

Othman/Cuylle- Trocheck- Kakko/Lafrenière/Goodrow/Vesey 

 

Goodrow- Bonino- Vesey 

 

Heck. I'm not really into Bonino so far. I was expecting a little more energy from him. Wouldn't be upset if he gets cut. Then Goodrow would be back to 4C and clearing a definite spit on the 3rd line.  

 

I agree neither kid should be on the 4th line. Though, Cuylle wouldn't suffer from it as much as Othmann would. 

[lefty9]

I agree Cuylie and Othman To start at ahl evel

 

[Br4d]

Starting Cuylle on the 4th line is a perfect entry to the NHL for him given who the guys on the 4th line are.  You couldn't ask for a better pair of vet linemates than Goodrow and Vesey even if Goodrow is slightly out of position at C. 

 

Cuylle would get 10-12 minutes a game at even strength as part of a grindy line with some exposure to the other team's top 6 in the defensive zone given who the three of them are.  He would likely get some PK time also.

 

He'd be in a good position to move up to line 3 if something happened in the lines above.

 

Othmann you can make a good argument for also but Cuylle is ready to go now.

[The Dude]

11 minutes ago, Br4d said:

Starting Cuylle on the 4th line is a perfect entry to the NHL for him given who the guys on the 4th line are.  You couldn't ask for a better pair of vet linemates than Goodrow and Vesey even if Goodrow is slightly out of position at C. 

 

Cuylle would get 10-12 minutes a game at even strength as part of a grindy line with some exposure to the other team's top 6 in the defensive zone given who the three of them are.  He would likely get some PK time also.

 

He'd be in a good position to move up to line 3 if something happened in the lines above.

 

Othmann you can make a good argument for also but Cuylle is ready to go now.

You're forgetting Bonino and I think Othmann is more ready than Cuylle for a 3rd line role.

 

Like I've been saying for a year now. Othmann easily replaces Lafrenières 3rd line spot. Either fit Lafrenière in as a RW, or he has to go while he has any value at all.  It's not going to happen for him here. 

 

"Bye bye. Home to mommy."

Edited October 1, 2023 by The Dude

[Pete]

Cuylle is better than a 4th liner. No reason to start him there or have him as a 13th.

[Ozzy]

I gotta go with you guys on that as well.  As much as I wanna see Cuylle and The Big O make the big club, I think they should be mid or end of season call ups.  I think we need time to see if Laff and Zack pan out. 

 

If there's an injury or some shit like that, then all bets are off, as far as I'm concerned.  But for the most part I think it's best giving them top line minutes in the AHL at least to start the season.  They shouldn't be 4th liners in my book...I'm not sure they fit that role either

[Sharpshooter]

Does Laf just not want to be here, or is he just not very good? Or both?

[RJWantsTheCup]

35 minutes ago, Sharpshooter said:

Does Laf just not want to be here, or is he just not very good? Or both?

I would guess a combination of the two.

[Sharpshooter]

So, maybe homesick for Canada and just not all that great. Wonderful.

[siddious]

28 minutes ago, Sharpshooter said:

So, maybe homesick for Canada and just not all that great. Wonderful.

 

28 minutes ago, Sharpshooter said:

So, maybe homesick for Canada and just not all that great. Wonderful.

It’s been almost 4 years. If he’s still home sick I would suggest a psychologist get involved. He is a grown ass man.

Edited October 2, 2023 by siddious

[Sharpshooter]

Just now, siddious said:

 

It’s been almost 4 years apiece still home sick I would suggest a psychologist get involved. He is a grown ass man.

I think it's something they should have done a couple of years ago, at least. It's been very clear that part of the problem is he does not seem comfortable.

[Phil]

On 9/29/2023 at 9:03 PM, Br4d said:

You think the Ottawa fans were having conversations like this about Zibanejad going into his 4th season?

 

The Senators waited one more year and then traded Zib at what they likely thought was his peak value.  Would they have gotten the Zibanejad we have today if they'd kept him?

 

Same argument can be made of Jonathan Drouin. He never panned out. Think anyone regrets trading him?

[Valriera]

21 minutes ago, Phil said:

 

Same argument can be made of Jonathan Drouin. He never panned out. Think anyone regrets trading him?

While we're making the completely valid comparison to Drouin, it should be noted that he was more productive than Lafreniere through his first 4 seasons. 

 

And no, nobody regrets trading him but im pretty sure that was rhetorical lol

[Br4d]

Lafreniere presses under very polite questions at this point. He fiddles with his nose, and his shirt and his necklace.  His face gets redder under extended questioning and if one person is persistent you can see the clammy skin thing starting.

 

He has people he likes talking too and you can see a little smile here and there when he's looking in their direction.  No idea who those people are because all we hear is voices.

 

One of the problems and the one that seems to trigger him the most is when somebody asks a question with followups that go on forever with lots of qualifying phrases.  You can see him chafe waiting to answer when the question turns into a series of paragraphs instead of a sentence.

 

One example was the question "Did you change anything you did this summer in terms of skating and conditioning?" which was actually probably three times as long as that with qualifiers thrown in including another question before he answered to the effect of "did you learn anything from the process?".  To which Lafreniere replied that he'd brought Dawn Braid in to work with him on skating and his edges, trying to get stronger and focus on his skating and lower body strength. 

 

The followup was "Was that coordinated with the Rangers? Was that something they set up?" At which point Lafreniere began to cover, mentioning his strength coach in Montreal helping to set it up and as the reporter pressed saying the Rangers had something to do with it as well.  You could see the discomfort at the followup question as Lafreniere's mouth fell open, which is kind of a universal signal for "What?  What's this?"

 

Again it's a small thing but the small things add up.  If I was the Rangers I might decide to make Lafreniere less available to the media until they've got a better idea of where they're going with him.

Edited October 2, 2023 by Br4d