Alexis Lafrenière is heading into Rangers training camp with something he hasn’t always had in New York: a clear runway.
For the first time, he arrives as a true top-six forward without veterans stacked ahead of him. In earlier seasons, opportunities naturally flowed to Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin.
That’s no longer the case, and it leaves Lafrenière in position to grab the kind of role the Rangers have been waiting for him to seize. Even with the team going out and acquiring Pavel Dorofeyev from Vegas and signing him to a lucrative contract extension, he’s expected to begin the season on the second line.
The setup is simple enough. Lafrenière closed last season with 37 points in his final 40 games, and the Rangers are hoping their No. 1 pick from 2020 can carry that momentum straight into the opener. Early in camp, that’s at least been the vibe.
Lafrenière has been talking like a player who understands what’s in front of him. Via Vince Mercogliano of The Athletic:
"Every successful player needs confidence. I was playing with a lot of confidence, and with really good players. If you play with confidence and make plays out there - and you have good players with you - it’s usually a good result."
That confidence matters because last season was a roller coaster for a Rangers team that missed the playoffs for the second straight year, and Lafrenière was part of the frustration for much of it. He looked uneven for long stretches before something finally changed.
Maybe it was Panarin getting traded and opening more space. Maybe it was the Olympic break giving him a reset.
Whatever the trigger was, the late-season surge was real - and now the Rangers need it to stick.
Mike Sullivan has liked what he’s seen so far, even if camp is still in its early stages. Also via The Athletic:
“He deserves a lot of credit for how hard he worked, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that his game performance followed. I’m watching him now in the first couple of days (of training camp).
It’s only two days, but just the intentions when he gets on the ice - how hard he’s practicing, the way he’s competing, his attention to detail out there - it’s impressive. It’s inspiring from my standpoint to watch him.
I think maybe it’s the maturation of a player.”
That word - maturation - fits the moment. Lafrenière’s best season so far has produced 28 goals and 57 points, but the Rangers would love to see him become a steady 30-goal, 75-point player or better.
He was tracking above that level at the end of last season. The next step is starting there and staying there.
Sullivan has also floated the idea of putting Mika Zibanejad, Gabe Perreault and Lafrenière together, though he made clear nothing is locked in. “We thought they had pretty good chemistry, so I think just from a common-sense standpoint, it would make sense to maybe see where it goes."
The timing matters, too. This is Lafrenière’s seventh NHL season, and he’ll turn 25 on October 11th.
At some point, the conversation shifts from what he might become to what he is. There’s still room for a jump, but the window to prove he can be an elite point-per-game producer is narrowing.
For the Rangers, the contract only looks better now. Lafrenière’s $7.45 million cap hit once sparked plenty of debate, but with the salary cap at $104 million this season and set to rise to $113.5 million a year from now, his deal suddenly sits in a much friendlier light. By next season, he’ll account for just 6.56 percent of the cap.
If he builds on what he did late last year and starts fast, that number will look even more like a steal.
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