Injuries present golden opportunity for Lafreniere and Kakko

Injuries stink. No one wishes for injuries to happen, and the Rangers are being tested early with injuries to Sammy Blais and Vitali Kravtsov forcing two wingers from the lineup. This does, however, present a golden opportunity for Lafreniere and Kakko, who are finally both in the top six. While the Rangers have the depth to manage the short term injuries, it forced Gerard Gallant to shift things around, hopefully landing on his future top two lines.

In small sample sizes last season, both Kakko and Lafreniere showed they belong in the top six. Pre-deadline, they were better than any of the other options trotting out there with the Rangers top skill players. Post deadline, they were two-thirds of the most effective line the Rangers had in the playoffs. It was clear they earned more ice time.

Then preseason happened, and for some reason the 1RW spot was a rotation of players like Blais, Barclay Goodrow, and Jimmy Vesey. Kakko eventually claimed that spot for himself, and with Vitali Kravtsov being stapled to Artemiy Panarin, that left Lafreniere on the third line. A fully healthy Rangers team means that line is a scoring line and likely gets an even split of 5v5 ice time with the top two lines, so that wasn’t a huge concern.

Now with both Blais and Kravtsov out, Lafreniere finds himself with Panarin and Vincent Trocheck, a line that worked exceptionally well in the home opener against Tampa. This was on top of Kakko looking right at home with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad.

This is a golden opportunity for Lafreniere and Kakko to cement themselves in the top six sooner than expected. We knew eventually they would wind up, and likely stick, in the top six. On Live From The Blue Seats‘ season debut, we predicted November. Injuries have moved this up, and sometimes injuries force coaches to accelerate their decision making process. Perhaps this was a way of accelerating Gerard Gallant’s expected lineup shuffle.

Kravtsov remains a wild card, and it’s expected that he will get a real look with Panarin. It’s assumed that Lafreniere will move back with Filip Chytil and likely Sammy Blais, as that line had some success in a small sample before Blais got hurt. This is a good problem for the Rangers to have, and a golden opportunity for Lafreniere and Kakko to show they should stick in the top six.