At just 8 goals and 20 points through 42 games this season, there is no excusing the offensive output from Alexis Lafreniere. He is far from the only player on the New York Rangers that can’t score, but he deserves equal blame for the situation the Rangers are in. That said, Alexis Lafreniere is having the best defensive season of his career, and while that is certainly not enough to absolve him of blame for the rest of his game, it’s something worth noting.
Until this year, Lafreniere had never been counted on for his defensive play. It wasn’t part of his game and that was perfectly fine. His role with Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck was to put up points, and in his first and only drama free season with a proper role–the 2023-2024 season–he put up career highs of 28 goals, 29 assists, and 57 points. He hasn’t even come close to matching those numbers.
Lafreniere’s role this season is still on a line that is supposed to score, something they are all failing at. However his deployment has changed slightly with fewer offensive zone starts. Under Peter Laviolette, Lafreniere was receiving anywhere from 70%-80% offensive zone starts. Under Mike Sullivan this season, that number has dropped to 61.5%, per Natural Stat Trick. Both Laviolette and Sullivan have tried to get Lafreniere’s line out against weaker competition, to varying success.
With more time outside the offensive zone, Lafreniere’s game had to evolve. We want him to score, and his role and contract dictate he needs to score more. No one is arguing against that. However Lafreniere’s game has evolved under Sullivan, and this is by far the best defensive season of his career.
It’s a bit odd to say the Rangers are a better team defensively with Lafreniere on the ice at 5v5, but here we are. It’s easy to point to Lafreniere’s -9 rating and state he is bad defensively, but that doesn’t take into account that 10 of those goals against are with an empty net. When Lafreniere plays at 5v5 with a goalie in his net, he’s a +1. So for those of you who like plus/minus, you need context to ignore empty net goals against.
As for puck possession metrics, it’s clear that Lafreniere is having a solid defensive season, limiting both quality and quantity of shots against. It’s not what he’s paid for and he, along with the rest of the top line players, need to start scoring. But sometimes we just look for positives, and Lafreniere’s defensive play has been a positive. The Rangers are better defensively with him on the ice.
It’s also worth noting that most of the roster looks better when he’s on the ice. Most of those red boxes move towards the “bad” part of play without Lafreniere. The team as a whole (“NYR” in that chart) moves significantly towards “bad” as well.
Two things an be true at once: The Rangers are much better with Alexis Lafreniere on the ice. The Rangers also need Lafreniere to be more decisive on offense and start scoring more. Both are true. Alexis Lafreniere is a true conundrum for this team.
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