Player Discussion Alexis Lafreniere

[HolyHagelin]

I’ve been saying for a while, i love what a chippy dirtbag of a player (in the good basebal sense of dirtbag) he is. The physical snarl he has displayed in every playoff run is why i have always had faith he will blow up.

Well, that and all the ES goals.

 

[will1066]

His zone entries are keying his line.

 

[DanielBrassard]

Keep it up Laf, gonna need his line to continue carrying us offensively.

 

[OthmannOut]

The hit came at a key time too. Washington just let up a goal, they are rattled. Laf went in and punished the lazy defenseman and fed it to Tro, to Bread, and that is the game winner. We need this type of 5 v 5 play if we are winning the whole thing.

 

[Rangers in 7]

I got shit for years defending Laf.

im right there with you bud lol

 

[Riche16]

I voted him as a star. He was physical, visible & effective through the entire game.

Keep feeding me the crow. Tasty

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

The hit came at a key time too. Washington just let up a goal, they are rattled. Laf went in and punished the lazy defenseman and fed it to Tro, to Bread, and that is the game winner. We need this type of 5 v 5 play if we are winning the whole thing.

I love how the Caps were pissed about that hit.

Laf blasted Iorio, who put himself in an odd position with the puck. It looked like he lost it for a second and was reaching.

Wasn't Lafs fault, it was a great hit which lead to a steal and a goal. The injury that resulted was more Iorios fault. Hit couldnt be cleaner.

Was also surprised there wasnt a more physical reaction from the Caps, targeting Laf or any of the Rangers. I thought the whole game was pretty timid from them, which helps the Rangers. That wasnt a very taxing game physically. Im expecting more from the Caps in games 2 & 3.

 

[Hug Ben Laf]

Freaking crow eaters trying to be cute here. No Laffy soup for you

 

[JimmyG89]

Popped a couple of secondary assists on the PP last night. Good work on the 1st one to dig a puck out for Mika's goal. Good patience to draw two caps for the Roslovic goal.

Been physical in both games too. Feel like one of these next two he'll have a big game. That line has been good, not great, in the 1st two games.

 

[Levitate]

That line might have to make decisions a bit quicker, or at least do a better job at buying time. Caps are closing things down quickly so there's not a lot of time to wait for things to develop. That'll be standard as the playoffs go along as well (assuming they beat the Caps)

 

[noncents]

it's been hard to get into 5v5 flow

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

His line has scored in both games and was pretty great in G1. Laf and Troch have been great.

G2 less so but that really fell on Panarin playing like butt.

 

[Riche16]

That line might have to make decisions a bit quicker, or at least do a better job at buying time. Caps are closing things down quickly so there's not a lot of time to wait for things to develop. That'll be standard as the playoffs go along as well (assuming they beat the Caps)

Haven't seen you post in a while.

Good to have you back!

(I'm sporadic when working week to week so maybe I've not seen ya recently. If so Ignore post lol)

 

[2014nyr]

His line has scored in both games and was pretty great in G1. Laf and Troch have been great.

G2 less so but that really fell on Panarin playing like butt.

think that's a little too hard on panarin...not his best game...but the caps number 1 priority defensively is stopping panarin. they are all over him, oshie could have gotten tagged with an assault charge for his plays on panarin away from the puck. the fact that his line created another goal and they've been effective overall creating chances on the ice is a good sign though. depending on how many resources teams are willing to commit to just stopping panarin, that lines most effective means of producing may make it difficult for him to show up on the stat sheet in 5 on 5 play despite making a huge impact. if they are going to commit 1+ players to defending him, his line needs to use that to their advantage by maximizing the open ice they can create by identifying where they commit a double and positioning themselves to capitalize on space they can create with it.

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

How Alexis Lafrenière unlocked his potential — and why there's likely more to come

Alexis Lafrenière’s NHL career got off to a rocky start but he appears to have turned a corner.

theathletic.com

Enlighten yourselves to Lafs work ethic, that went largely unnoticed last summer

“Everyone knows he didn’t have good playoffs,” close friend Félix Lafrance said. “Even him.”

The longer offseason didn’t mean a longer break. Lafrenière was back training 10 days after returning to his native Quebec.

“He was really hard on himself,” said Simon Lafrance, Félix’s older brother who trained with Lafrenière over the summer. “Couldn’t miss a pass, couldn’t miss a shot. If he was missing a drill, he would repeat it. He didn’t accept failure”

Dubé first met Lafrenière when the Rangers forward was 11, and he saw him go from a pretty good peewee player to a bantam phenom to a top-level NHL prospect. They formed a close relationship, and Dubé often told Lafrenière to watch his other NHL clients, including Anthony Mantha and Jonathan Bernier. Dubé wanted him to see how hard they trained, how they got to the gym early and approached each day like a professional.

Last summer, with the playoff disappointment still fresh, was the first time Dubé saw Lafrenière fully embrace training like those players.

“This is where we realized, ‘OK, he turned a corner,’” Dube said.

“He’s much more mature now than he was at 18 years old,” Dubé said. “That’s the reality.”

“It’s not easy getting that much hype and that much pressure,” Schneider said. “Seeing him this year, I think he’s shut a lot of people up.”

 

[Pawnee Rangers]

How Alexis Lafrenière unlocked his potential — and why there's likely more to come

Alexis Lafrenière’s NHL career got off to a rocky start but he appears to have turned a corner.

theathletic.com

Enlighten yourselves to Lafs work ethic, that went largely unnoticed last summer

People questioned his work ethic/attitude at the end last year and we got blistered.

 

[bhamill]

People questioned his work ethic/attitude at the end last year and we got blistered.

People also questioned it this year, lest we just ignore what people were saying this pre season... "Lazy" was just a lazy explanation itself. "He's not developing fast enough, he must be lazy..."
I have no doubt Laf worked hard EVERY off season, he was never lazy. There are, however, LEVELS of commitment and hard work. Is there another Ranger that trains as hard as Kreider? Probably not. Does that mean the are all "lazy" or "not committed" or have "bad attitudes" or "questionable work ethic"? Absolutely not. There is a LOT of real estate between lazy and Kreider level. I still doubt Laf is at Keider level, but if he sees how much his game is benefiting, maybe he'll strive for that.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

think that's a little too hard on panarin...not his best game...but the caps number 1 priority defensively is stopping panarin. they are all over him, oshie could have gotten tagged with an assault charge for his plays on panarin away from the puck. the fact that his line created another goal and they've been effective overall creating chances on the ice is a good sign though. depending on how many resources teams are willing to commit to just stopping panarin, that lines most effective means of producing may make it difficult for him to show up on the stat sheet in 5 on 5 play despite making a huge impact. if they are going to commit 1+ players to defending him, his line needs to use that to their advantage by maximizing the open ice they can create by identifying where they commit a double and positioning themselves to capitalize on space they can create with it.

He scored nearly 50 goals and put up 120 points in the regular season. Do you think teams were just ignoring him then? It's not like he just feasted on bad teams, he put up points on everyone.

Plus is not like he isn't getting space. Last game wasn't about him not being able to operate because he had no room, last game was about him just making bad decisions and not being able to complete passes that he normally completes. I see the Caps trying to get under his skin but I don't think they've done a terrific job of defending him. He got away from shooting too which is just not what he has been doing this year and of course, air mailed the breakaway he had towards the end of the 3rd period.

Thats the one thing that gives me comfort because that points to it just being an off game for him rather than him getting smothered and making panic plays based off of it. I thought he was pretty good in game 1 even aside from the goal.

A big game tonight and his game 2 performance isn't even an afterthought. They're going to need him to show up and show up big along the way though.

 

[2014nyr]

He scored nearly 50 goals and put up 120 points in the regular season. Do you think teams were just ignoring him then? It's not like he just feasted on bad teams, he put up points on everyone.

Plus is not like he isn't getting space. Last game wasn't about him not being able to operate because he had no room, last game was about him just making bad decisions and not being able to complete passes that he normally completes. I see the Caps trying to get under his skin but I don't think they've done a terrific job of defending him. He got away from shooting too which is just not what he has been doing this year and of course, air mailed the breakaway he had towards the end of the 3rd period.

Thats the one thing that gives me comfort because that points to it just being an off game for him rather than him getting smothered and making panic plays based off of it. I thought he was pretty good in game 1 even aside from the goal.

A big game tonight and his game 2 performance isn't even an afterthought. They're going to need him to show up and show up big along the way though.

regular season game plans and playoff game plans aren't comparable. in the regular season before 1/82, you know who the top players are, review at some tendencies, and maybe set some matchups. the postseason when you have 4-7 games against 1 team, the preparation, video analysis, systems adjustments etc is far more extensive.

they played a low event team where all 4 games were dominated by special teams play, which leaves him sitting for stretches and also messes up line combos. nothing about his play showed some dropoff from the regular season. it wasn't a series that set up for him to thrive offensively. was he at his absolute best? no. did he play poorly? absolutely not.

criticizing his play in the series is nothing more than looking for problems that aren't there just to have something to complain about. adam fox only had 2 points in the series, should we be concerned about him too?

the team won 4 straight in a playoff series with very little stress. the caps weren't great, but it's hard to beat anyone 4 straight. they got contributions from just about the entire roster - the thing that any potential long run actually depends on. panarin will have his games over any long run and the points will add up, but it's so far from a negative that they didn't come this round.