Christian Hmura will need to unlock Alexis Lafreniere's and Kaapo Kakko's potential.

Per Arthur Staple, the Rangers are quietly shopping Alexis Lafreniere. This shouldn’t be much of a surprise, and if you’ve been reading the Patreon posts, you know that this has been in the cards for a little bit. With the Rangers shopping Lafreniere, they will need an immediate return similar to the Drouin/Sergachev swap a few years back. It’s not a great situation for Drury, but at least he’s looking to be a little ruthless and potentially cutting the cord before it’s too late.

A trade with Lafreniere doesn’t materialize overnight and certainly doesn’t have a time limit on it. The Rangers don’t need to trade him, and while an offer sheet is a possibility, it’s not a likely possibility. Offer sheets are rare, and while we always see the threat, they just don’t happen. If I eat my words in a few weeks, I eat my words in a few weeks.

Outside of the Rangers shopping Lafreniere, there are rumblings that Patrick Kane may want to return following his offseason hip surgery. Naturally this is going to rub people the wrong way, all things considered. On the ice, Kane is another big risk coming off that surgery. This may not be viable until December, so we will likely hear a bunch of rumors until then.

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