Two words you won’t hear from the New York Rangers: Alexis Lafreniere

Everyone believes Alexis Lafreniere is destined to play in New York, but don’t tell the New York Rangers

When the New York Rangers’ ping pong ball popped out of the machine, to most observers it meant that Alexis Lafreniere has a date with destiny in New York CIty.    But the team is playing it very close to the vest and not even mentioning his name.

In the article about the lottery win on the Rangers’ team website,  Lafreniere’s name isn’t  mentioned once. In two interviews, General Manager Jeff Gorton talked about him, but said his name just once.

On the lottery show, Gorton was asked what impressed him about Lafreniere.  Gorton said “I think, along with the skills, his competitiveness. Going back to the World Juniors and his performing with RImouski, right away you can see he has the kind of talent that we’re all looking for, but  (he) also drags everyone into battle with him…we’re all looking for a player like that.”

Gorton had a press availability after the lottery drawing and he addressed the issue again.  In the Zoom press conference  he was asked directly if Lafreniere as a Ranger was a “slam dunk in his mind.”  He was noncommittal in his answer,   “I’m of the school of we’ll take some time here and let this all settle in here. I wouldn’t want to give away exactly what’s is going to happen.”

Interestingly, the Rangers have had no contact at all with the young star and Lafreniere has never been to New York City.  Gorton said “We didn’t want to jinx ourselves and do our interview with Alexis until we had the good fortune of winning the lottery.  I wouldn’t want to waste his time so we’ll go through that process, we’ll start to meet the young man and go down the road of talking to him, his family and doing all that,  so let’s get through that first.  Let the Rangers fans be happy about winning the lottery.”

Later, he did indicate that the this year’s Lafreniere sweepstakes is significant, saying “”It’s huge excitement for an organization to get the first pick on any year.  I think this one is even more special.” That has to be because of Lafreniere.

Lafreniere’s perspective

Meanwhile, Lafreniere talked like he was assuming that he would go first in the draft and most likely to New York. He said that the Rangers are a really good team with good players, so he is happy to finally know who won the lottery. He said that his favorite player is Artemi Panarin and though he has never been to New York, he has heard it’s a “pretty nice spot.”

When asked about the challenge of playing in the New York media pressure cooker, Lafreniere said “I think it’s just a lot of fun that the city is really loving hockey and as a player that’s what  you want.  It’s exciting to perform in front of those kind of fans. It something exciting and I’m looking forward to.”

The good luck charm

Gorton did mention that for the second straight year he had Steven McDonald’s NYPD detective shield with him as a good luck charm, provided by the McDonald family.

While the odds are that the Rangers will select Lafreniere, there is no doubt that other NHL general managers will be lined up outside Gorton’s door with all kinds of deals for the first pick. Ottawa has seven picks in the first two rounds, including the third and fifth picks.  The Los Angeles Kings own the second overall pick and would love to have a matinee idol like Lafreniere.   What would Montreal give up to get a Quebecois star to rival the likes of Guy Lafleur, Jean Beliveau and Yvon Cournoyer?

Last season, Ray Shero of the Devils didn’t reveal that they were going to pick Jack Hughes until the night of the draft.  It turns out they never really considered any other option.  Much the same will probably be said about the Rangers on draft night.