What a whirlwind it’s been for Alexis Lafreniere. Penciled into a top six role, Lafreniere finds himself on the third line after a terrible camp. It was assumed his lead competition would be Blake Wheeler, but in fact he was beaten out by Will Cuylle, who had a stellar camp and earned his spot. At least that’s what the narrative is.
The reaction has naturally led many to want a trade. But the Rangers should not trade Lafreniere, at least not yet. That was the stance before preseason, and 3 preseason games isn’t going to change that. Even with his skating and defensive issues, Lafreniere is still close to a 20 goal scorer at 5v5, and will do it for $2.325 million. Objectively, that’s a bargain.
That may be a hard pill to swallow for many people, since the Rangers used their first ever #1 overall pick on Lafreniere. But it’s been four years, and not all #1 picks are Connor McDavid or even Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Sometimes, you just get a useful player with holes in his game. As of now, that’s what Lafreniere is.
The other piece of the situation is line roles and chemistry. Historically, Artemi Panarin has played better with a consistent forechecker on his line. Jesper Fast did well there, as did Colin Blackwell. Will Cuylle is more of a north-south player and fits that mold better. That’s not a slight on Lafreniere, even if his poor play was an input to Cuylle landing the top-six role to start the season.
Instead, we have Lafreniere on the third line with Vincent Trocheck and Blake Wheeler for now, which will likely change before we can even get used to it.
Without Lafreniere there, we’d have Jimmy Vesey. Is he really the answer to create a third scoring line? If your answer is yes, then the next question is whether Vesey is a better scoring option than Lafreniere, again to create that third scoring line. If your answer is yes again, then you are likely letting emotions cloud your decision making. Human nature, but the point still remains.
There aren’t many 20 goal scorers for under $3 million. So if the Rangers were to seek a trade, they’d already be operating from a position of weakness. Montreal isn’t a viable trade partner anymore, and there aren’t many teams in a position to take on Lafreniere that are willing to give up a comparable piece.
The Rangers are stuck with Lafreniere. Lafreniere is stuck with the Rangers. Both need this to work out. It’s been frustrating for sure, but the Rangers should not trade Lafreniere. At least not yet, unless a can’t miss deal comes along. Short term both parties need this to work. Long term, it only behooves both to try to make it work for this season.
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