Prospect Info: 2020 NHL Draft 1st Overall Pick, Alexis Lafreniere, LW

[LokiDog]

Thankful for Alexis

 

[MysticLeviathan]

All this hype means he won’t live up to it. That’s how it goes, that’s the way it works.

 

[Rangers in 7]

Any update on him and kakko at the wjc coming up?

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

Any update on him and kakko at the wjc coming up?

No, I'd prefer that they both not go.

 

[Rangers in 7]

No, I'd prefer that they both not go.

If the nhl season doesn’t start till February I’d disagree with you

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

If the nhl season doesn’t start till February I’d disagree with you

I'd rather they prepare for that start than risk getting sick/injured in a tournament where they've both already won Gold (and in Alexis case, MVP.)

 

[Thirty One]

I'd rather they prepare for that start than risk getting sick/injured in a tournament where they've both already won Gold (and in Alexis case, MVP.)

If it doesn't interfere with camp, I can't imagine what they'd be doing that would better prepare them for the season.

 

[romba]

Kakko at the WJC is a joke, gtfoh with that junk. Don’t need to see him against kids. Lend him to a man league in Europe temporarily or figure something out that doesn’t involve beating up on kids. He needs to struggle through his difficulties, he made huge progress towards the end of last year doing that. Playing against kids is just conditioning BS he can get elsewhere with potentially adding bad habits that work against youth and not grown men.

We draft number 1 and watch the season get washed out. I might not come back this time (*crickets*) if the league and PA can’t figure their shit out

 

[Barnaby]

Kakko at the WJC is a joke, gtfoh with that junk. Don’t need to see him against kids. Lend him to a man league in Europe temporarily or figure something out that doesn’t involve beating up on kids. He needs to struggle through his difficulties, he made huge progress towards the end of last year doing that. Playing against kids is just conditioning BS he can get elsewhere with potentially adding bad habits that work against youth and not grown men.

We draft number 1 and watch the season get washed out. I might not come back this time (*crickets*) if the league and PA can’t figure their shit out

Conditioning and has the chance to be a big spike to his confidence going into a new season. He wasn’t exactly in a great place all of last season. It’s also going to be a shortened year so I wouldn’t worry about the extra hockey.

 

[WojtekWolski86]

If Kaako plays in the WJC and doesn't do well (in his own mind or others) or gets injured don't you think that will have a more negative impact than needing "game conditioning?"

Let him continue training off and on the ice and develop the tools he needs. He didnt have an off season last year with all the tournaments, draft, pre training camp, Traverse City, Rangers Camp. Etc etc.

 

[Vitto79]

May aswell letLafraniere play for Canada if camp doesn’t start till mid Jan

 

[romba]

Conditioning and has the chance to be a big spike to his confidence going into a new season. He wasn’t exactly in a great place all of last season. It’s also going to be a shortened year so I wouldn’t worry about the extra hockey.

False confidence doesn’t help. Last year’s playoffs showed real growth, success at the WJC isn’t close to that at all. You don’t need to play a series against weaker competition to get conditioned properly.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

False confidence doesn’t help. Last year’s playoffs showed real growth, success at the WJC isn’t close to that at all. You don’t need to play a series against weaker competition to get conditioned properly.

They should just loan him to TPS. He needs to play games. Nobody is getting better by shooting pucks at the net at an empty rink all day.

 

[Barnaby]

False confidence doesn’t help. Last year’s playoffs showed real growth, success at the WJC isn’t close to that at all. You don’t need to play a series against weaker competition to get conditioned properly.

It’s good enough for pretty much everyone else U20. I don’t care if it’s the WJC or Finland, but if the season gets delayed for any significant time beyond January 1st then I’d like to see him playing hockey sooner rather than later. Also, aside from a small 3 game sample at the end of the year, he struggled quite a bit. I’m def optimistic, but it’s not like he’s proven he’s so far beyond the competition that the WJC can offer.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

It’s good enough for pretty much everyone else U20. I don’t care if it’s the WJC or Finland, but if the season gets delayed for any significant time beyond January 1st then I’d like to see him playing hockey sooner rather than later. Also, aside from a small 3 game sample at the end of the year, he struggled quite a bit. I’m def optimistic, but it’s not like he’s proven he’s so far beyond the competition that the WJC can offer.

Yes. This times 1000.

Playing 3 competitive games in 11 months (assuming a Feb 1st start is even happening) is not how you want your 19-year old, 2nd overall pick, to develop

 

[BlackEye from Xhekaj]

I would love to see him go play in Europe to start the year. Even getting sent to the WJC it would give him a chance to come out of the gates running this season!

On a side note, in terms of point production over the next 3-5 seasons, what are we looking at? A 50 to 80 point range? Upside for 90+ in his prime or am I shooting too high?

 

[romba]

It’s good enough for pretty much everyone else U20. I don’t care if it’s the WJC or Finland, but if the season gets delayed for any significant time beyond January 1st then I’d like to see him playing hockey sooner rather than later. Also, aside from a small 3 game sample at the end of the year, he struggled quite a bit. I’m def optimistic, but it’s not like he’s proven he’s so far beyond the competition that the WJC can offer.

All I’m saying is let him play against grown men, not skilled boys. Like AK said loan him to TPS.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

I would love to see him go play in Europe to start the year. Even getting sent to the WJC it would give him a chance to come out of the gates running this season!

On a side note, in terms of point production over the next 3-5 seasons, what are we looking at? A 50 to 80 point range? Upside for 90+ in his prime or am I shooting too high?

That is what he should be aiming for. 70-80 point seasons regularly with an outlier where he tops 90 or even close to 100.

 

[cheech70]

In my opinion the gap has closed between K2 and Vitaly

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

In my opinion the gap has closed between K2 and Vitaly

Vitaly is 14 months older and hasn't played a single NHL game yet.

 

[aufheben]

This isn’t the Kakko thread.

 

[BlackEye from Xhekaj]

That is what he should be aiming for. 70-80 point seasons regularly with an outlier where he tops 90 or even close to 100.

I'm comfortable with that projection. A buddy of mine who is a huge Jets fan and I were debating his offensive upside to that of Laine. I feel like Laine may have more output in terms of offensive ability while Lafreniere will have an all around impact.

 

[Thirty One]

In my opinion the gap has closed between K2 and Vitaly

Yeah, I agree. It was enormous and now it's just very large.

 

[EdJovanovski]

In my opinion the gap has closed between K2 and Vitaly

Why name Kakko after synthetic marijuana that only absolute junkies smoke lmao such a disgusting name

 

[TheBloodyNine]

In my opinion the gap has closed between K2 and Vitaly

K2 isn’t a thing