Funny, when LaFontaine played for the Isles I never really thought of him as a playmaker, I thought of him as a goal scorer, more of a replacement for Bossy than Trottier. Early on he reminded me of Marcel Dionne, with that same relentless drive for the net, that ability to carry the puck & fight through traffic to get the goal, & the ability to pull the trigger from all sorts of angles in close. I don't think LaFontaine ever quite developed elite passing vision like Dionne did, but for his entire tenure on Long Island he was stuck with 2nd-3rd line talents on his wing & never played with an elite winger, or even a credible first line talent, for that matter. When the Big 3 cleared out, the entire offensive hole was being filled by one guy - LaFontaine was essentially tasked with the burden of being the only offensive generator for his team. Guys like Mikko Makela, Patrick Flatley, David Volek, Randy Wood, Derek King didn't have the wheels or hands to finish consistently enough when playing alongside him, so he mostly played a shoot first style. For most of his career in LA, Dionne always had an option of passing to someone who could finish.
When LaFontaine landed in Buffalo & clicked with Mogilny it was like Dionne finding Charlie Simmer. All the more interesting, too, when you consider that LaFontaine was a right shooting center & Mogilny was a left shooting right wing, meaning that in order to hit Mogilny on the rush he'd have to spin around or hit him with a backhand, & Mogilny would probably get into shooting position & pull the trigger rather than take a backhand-to-backhand pass & carry it. Basically, in Buffalo, LaFontaine for the first time in his career could shift from being in a shoot first mentality because he finally had an elite finisher skating with him, & it didn't take much of a transition because he was a very skilled stickhandler & an intelligent player who knew the best play to make the goal. It was sort of jaw dropping seeing some of the plays they did together, almost Gretzky-Kurri like. He was like Dionne & Gretzky in that he could draw the attention of the checkers & then hit the open man.
When you look at the stats for 92-93, LaFontaine, Mogilny & Andreychuk potted 67 PPG between them, & Hawerchuk had a career low 16 goals but had a career year for assists with 80 (including 44 PP) because now he had three elite finishers so didn't have to drive for the net as much. It was tragic we didn't get a few more seasons with LaFontaine at his peak.
