Lafreniere Peak?

[JTToilinginToronto]

A very good complimentary piece on a first line, which is loads better than what he looked like this time last year.

He's never going to be the guy, but good enough to ride shotgun to someone like Panarin.

 

[WillardJFredricks]

I think top 25, as in I see him producing enough points to be considered, but you'd never take him to lead your team. Maybe Tavares like, or Huberdeau (those years he had in Florida).

 

[wetcoast]

Too slow to be anything but 1st or 2nd line winger, might knock on the top50 at his peak.

This is my gut feeling as well a good winger but nothing noteworthy.

 

[hawksrule]

At 22? Based on what?

This is what he was supposed to be three years ago. Nice that he finally sort of broke out, but he’s not particularly skilled enough to go far beyond this. No shame in being a low end first / good second liner.

 

[Ignite111]

I like how everyone is just ognoring that he scored more goals than MacK through their first four years, with only 5 on the PP.

It’s going to make your crying delicious when Laf ks a hart finalist in 2 years.

Can’t wait to come back to this post in 2 years.

 

[Ignite111]

BTW, Panarin's line was not stacked when it was Jasper Fast, Colin Blackwell, and Dryden Hunt on his other wing. Saying that Lafreniere benefited from playing with Panarin and saying that Panarin had no benefit from having a good winger for a change on his best season in his career is disingenuous. People are just haters because they're invested in hating the kid and him sucking because you don't want to admit he's wrong. Hart proclamations are cringe AF but he's a bona-fide 1st line winger at 22 years old.

What about Ryan Strome?

 

[banks]

I've been a detractor for a while now. But with his decent season (nearly 30 goals and 60 points) it's silly to say he can't be a 1st liner at his peak. You could argue semantics and say he's that right now.

 

[PainForShane]

This is what he was supposed to be three years ago. Nice that he finally sort of broke out, but he’s not particularly skilled enough to go far beyond this. No shame in being a low end first / good second liner.

Still hating on him I see. But I guess that's an improvement on the last time I saw you and you said he didn't have the potential to be a top-6 player (which is ironic considering the quality of Blackhawks top-6 wings).

Low key impressed you're this dedicated!

 

[Kupo]

This is what he was supposed to be three years ago.

Says who?

 

[hawksrule]

Says who?

My bad, I’m sure the plan for a #1oa forward was for him to finally break 50 points in his fourth nhl season.

 

[Kupo]

My bad, I’m sure the plan for a #1oa forward was for him to finally break 50 points in his fourth nhl season.

I didn’t realize there were rules in place for these kind of expectations. What other standards are there? Is there a list of these requirements you can direct me to?

 

[kgboomer]

Probably top 5 NHL Player in the list of most overrated player.

 

[GeeoffBrown]

What I like about Lafreniere is that he really had to work to get to where he is. Despite being a #1 pick, he was not able to dominate NHL players out of the gate the way he did junior level players and he could easily have been someone who was a trivia question as one of the biggest draft busts. So, this gives me the impression that when the going gets tough, he's not going to fold because he's not been able to just coast by in the NHL on his skill alone