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Three reasons why Lafreniere will be a success on Broadway

By Andrew Steele-Davis

Alexis Lafreniere #11 of Team White laughs with teammates following the final whistle of the 2020 CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game against Team Red. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
Alexis Lafreniere #11 of Team White laughs with teammates following the final whistle of the 2020 CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game against Team Red. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images) /
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Artemi Panarin #10 and Mika Zibanejad #93 of the New York Rangers celebrate a 5-4 overtime victory over the Washington Capitals. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

3. Cadre of talent

The New York Rangers are building an impressive crew. A real impressive crew.

After stockpiling what was a barren farm system, the Rangers are now an organization flush with talent and Alexis Lafreniere will only add to that.

And that’s why Lafreniere will be a home run in New York.

Hockey is a real team sport and we’ve seen in Edmonton with Connor McDavid that one star doesn’t translate to success or Stanley Cups.

That won’t be the case for Lafreniere in The Big Apple.

He’ll be surrounded by a boatload of potent weapons including his favorite player to watch in Artemi Panarin, and Kaapo Kakko is still destined to be a star in this league despite an up and down rookie year.

Plus, there’s more help on the way.

Vitali Kravtsov should finally make the full-time leap to the NHL in 2020-21, and defenseman K’Andre Miller could crack the roster after making Training Camp prior to the restart.

Add recently signed center Morgan Barron into the mix, coupled with the fact that the Rangers have another pick in the First Round in 2020, then Lafreniere will have plenty of help.

He’ll also be given every opportunity to make the kind of impact previous No.1 draft choices McDavid and Auston Matthews made in their rookie years given that he’ll have the likes of Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider around him.

Zibanejad is quickly establishing himself as a top center in the NHL and Head Coach David Quinn could decide to put out a stacked top line of Lafreniere, Mika and Panarin, which is just ridiculously entertaining to think about.

Next. How will Lafreniere fit into the lineup?. dark

Whatever the line combinations, however, this Rangers team is starting to look loaded and they will only get better over the coming years given their stacked farm system and the draft capital they have at their disposal.

That should ensure that Alexis Lafreniere has all the tools available to him needed to live up to the hype and become the next big sporting star in New York City.

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