Alexis Lafreniere finished last season the way the Rangers have always hoped he would: producing like a player who can carry a bigger load.
The No. 1 pick in the 2020 draft has had an uneven run in New York, and the pressure only grows with a $7.45MM AAV contract that runs through the 2031-32 season. But the closing stretch of last year gave the Rangers a much clearer picture of what Lafreniere can look like when the ice opens up around him. He finished with 57 points, matching his career high, and the real spike came after Artemi Panarin was removed from the lineup.
Panarin was scratched for roster management reasons on January 28 and traded to the Los Angeles Kings shortly after. That move opened a prime power-play role for Lafreniere, something he had rarely been given in his NHL career. He made the most of it, putting up 28 points in 28 games without Panarin, with 10 of those points coming on the power play.
If Lafreniere is going to build on that finish, the Rangers’ offseason changes could matter a lot. New York moved pivot Vincent Trocheck to the Utah Mammoth and brought in Pavel Dorofeyev from the Vegas Golden Knights.
Peter Baugh of The Athletic said the likeliest look has Lafreniere on the top line with Dorofeyev and No. 1 center Mika Zibanejad. That setup could be especially important if Lafreniere and Dorofeyev click, both at even strength and on the power play, where Dorofeyev is described as especially lethal.
If that connection takes, Lafreniere has a real chance to keep rolling from the point-per-game pace he posted over his final 28 games of 2025-26.
Elsewhere around the hockey world, the Bruins may have improved this offseason, but they still appear to be missing the one thing every true contender needs: a bona fide No. 1 center. Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe pointed to Boston’s trade for Utah winger JJ Peterka as the biggest offseason move, but said Pavel Zacha and Elias Lindholm are more solid top-six pieces than the kind of all-around force contenders lean on.
He compared the top centers from this year’s final four teams - Sebastian Aho, Jack Eichel, Nathan MacKinnon, and Nick Suzuki - and noted the Bruins don’t have anyone in that tier. Prospect James Hagens could eventually become that kind of player, but that future is still ahead of him.
For now, he’s likely to remain on the wing while Boston works with two capable, but not elite, top-six centers.
Merrimack College also made a notable addition, announcing yesterday that 23-year-old forward Jacob Frasca has joined the program. Frasca is a 6-foot-5 center who spent the last two full seasons in the ECHL, and his path is part of a growing trend of players choosing college hockey after time in the pros.
In some cases, those are former college players with eligibility left. In others, like Frasca, the route runs through the ECHL after a CHL background once made NCAA play off-limits.
That changed, and now players with CHL experience are eligible for college hockey. Frasca, who had 69 points in 68 games for the 2022-23 Barrie Colts, is one of the skaters taking advantage of that opening.
In Other News...
Rangers May Be Heading Toward Another Painful Braden Schneider Decision
Braden Schneiders place in the Rangers long-term picture is suddenly looking less secure than it once did. The 24-year-old defenseman has not quite matched the early expectations that came with him, and with New York already carrying several blueliners on long-term deals while younger options continue to push into the conversation, his path to a steady role has become harder to define.
For a front office still trying to balance roster construction with salary cap reality, that creates a difficult kind of decision. Schneider is no longer just a player to monitor on the back end, but part of a larger equation about how the Rangers can address other needs without thinning out their defense too much, and the next stretch of his play could go a long way toward determining how aggressively management moves around him. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Could Still Make One Intriguing Move Before Camp
With training camp approaching, the Rangers are still leaving room for one more move up front, and Shane Wright has emerged as a name worth watching. The Seattle center was the No. 4 overall pick not long ago, and at 22 he still fits the kind of young, controllable talent New York has tended to value when looking to deepen its forward group. For the Rangers, the appeal is obvious: a player who could slide into a third-line center role and give the lineup another option down the middle.
How New York would get there is the part still worth tracking. Any serious pursuit would likely force the Rangers to weigh pieces from a defense corps that already has its own internal value, and that kind of decision is never simple this late in the summer. Wrights situation has opened the door for speculation, but the real question is whether the Rangers decide the fit is strong enough to part with a useful young defender before camp opens. [Read more 🡒]
Mike Sullivan Fixed One Rangers Problem But Created Another
Mike Sullivans first season behind the Rangers bench did deliver one clear change: the team became harder to play against defensively. After coming in with a more structure-first approach, he helped tighten things up on that end compared with the previous season, giving New York a more reliable foundation even as the rest of the roster kept searching for rhythm.
The problem was that the same system did not solve everything else, and the Rangers spent much of the year fighting for consistency on offense. Injuries to key players helped trigger a long losing stretch, and the lineup decisions that followed only added to the uncertainty as the club tried to balance short-term results with player development. What looked like one problem fixed quickly turned into another one waiting for answers. [Read more 🡒]