Blueshirts Briefs: Alexis Lafrenière won’t be another Pavel Brendl

The last time the New York Rangers drafted a “can’t miss” prospect they paid dearly for a kid who filled his belly more often than any net.

That kid was Pavel Brendl, and in this edition of Blueshirts Briefs, we’ll revisit the Czech-born right winger’s journey from prolific scorer in Canadian juniors to one of the biggest draft busts in New York Rangers and NHL history.

High hopes

Heading into the 1999 Entry Draft, Brendl was dubbed the NHL’s next megastar after leading the Western Hockey League with 73 goals and 134 points in 68 games as a 17-year-old rookie with the Calgary Hitmen. He was rated No. 2 by NHL Central Scouting and No. 1 by The Hockey News (ahead of the Sedins) — and the Rangers were sold.

General manager Neil Smith traded goalie Dan Cloutier, forward Niklas Sundstrom, and his first and third round picks to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for the No. four pick to draft Brendl, which they did after the Atlanta Thrashers took fellow Czech Patrik Stefan with the first pick and the Vancouver Canucks snatched Daniel and Henrik Sedin with the next two selections.

The price seemed fairly cheap for the 6-foot-1, 204-pounder, whose 73 goals and 134 points remain Calgary Hitmen single-season records and who led Calgary to the WHL title with 21 goals and 25 assists in 20 playoff matches, set franchise marks in game-winners (12), short-handed tallies (10), and a plus-68 rating, and earned WHL and Canadian Hockey League Rookie of the Year honors.

In three years and 178 matches with the Hitmen, he posted 172 goals and 148 apples for 320 points. Only Brad Moran has more career points with the franchise but it took him 357 matches to accumulate 450 points. Brendl’s production was eye-popping for the WHL, widely considered the most physical of the CHL’s leagues (its trophy for the player with the most points is named after Bobby Clarke).

Not surprisingly Brendl had plenty of endorsements heading into the draft.

Brian Burke, then GM of the Canucks, told the Vancouver Province: “Brendl’s skating is just fine — you don’t score 73 goals in that league if you can’t skate. I think he’s going to be a prolific goal scorer in the NHL. He’s got a hard, accurate shot and he’s strong on his skates. He’s a can’t miss.”

NHL Central Scouting noted Brendl as ”a powerful skater with a wide stride” who has ”deceptive speed that often results in breakaway opportunities.”

”The way he’s played, he’s got a lot of people talking about him possibly going No. 1 overall,” said Hitmen head coach Dean Clark told the Calgary Herald prior to the draft. ”He’s come miles in maturity, and he’s one of the best team-oriented guys we’ve got.”

Brad Robson, then a Calgary-based Western Canadian head scout for the NHL’s Dallas Stars, gushed: ”He’s probably been one of the best players around the net in the Western Hockey League in a long time. He’s got a quick release, an excellent wrist shot, and backhand. He’s a smart player, very skilled, great hands — probably one of the best offensive players to come around in a long, long time. He just keeps getting better and better.”

Filling his belly — not the net

While it was hard to blame the Rangers for taking Brendl, it’s also important to note that New York reportedly was one of several clubs willing to overlook some red flags, his eating habits and work ethic without the puck chief among them. In fact, Brendl told anybody willing to listen how much he enjoyed eating.

“Hot dogs and weiners are the best food for me,” Brendl told the Toronto Globe and Mail.

Brendl opened eyes in his very first NHL practice, but for the wrong reasons. He reported to camp out of shape and reportedly was more than a step behind during the session, and was exhausted and suffered leg cramps afterward. Brendl told reporters he had a “touch” of the flu.

”Now, you have to hope he does have the flu,” Smith told reporters after watching his top pick struggle to make it through the practice. ”You have to write it off, or you’ll drive yourself crazy. As in, ‘Oh, my God. I gave up Sundstrom, Cloutier, and a first-round pick for him. What if he’s not sick?’

”Coming in, you have to calculate a guy with his record and all the opinions there were on him that he will probably make the team,” Smith said. ”Then he comes in and you find out if there are some reasons why that was not a calculation to make. But the year does not revolve around whether Pavel Brendl stays in the NHL or not. I think our next decade does. But I’d still bet at this point he’d be on the team.”

Brendl not only was sent back to WHL Calgary after that debacle of a training camp but he also never played a single regular-season or playoff game for the Rangers.

From hot dogs to cheesesteaks?

On August 20, 2001, Brendl was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers with Jan Hlavac, Kim Johnsson, and a third-round pick in the 2003 Entry Draft for Eric Lindros. (I still believe the Rangers gave up way too much for Lindros, who seemed to give Flyers’ brass more headaches than he sustained while playing. By then, Flyers’ owner Ed Snider and GM Bob Clarke probably would’ve settled for Brendl, a case of Molson Canadian, and a bag of pucks.)

And just like that, the Rangers’ savior was gone. He played 50 games for the Flyers, 26 for the Carolina Hurricanes, and two for the Phoenix Coyotes, notching a combined 11 goals and 11 assists along with 16 penalty minutes. His final NHL game was on February 7, 2006. He was 24 years, 321 days old.

He did go on to play ten more years in Europe putting up some good numbers in the top leagues in Sweden and Russia.  In 2008-09 he actually led the KHL in goals with 35 in that league’s inaugural year.

No worries 

For the record, there have been no reports of Alexis Lafrenière having a penchant for stuffing himself. He is, however, lauded for his ability to feed teammates.

The consensus No. 1 pick in the Entry Draft in October, Lafrenière led the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with 112 points, won his second straight CHL Most Valuable Player award, and was MVP of the Under 20 world junior championship after posting 10 points in five games to lead Canada to gold.

Lafrenière is likely to be the first French-Canadian to go first overall since Marc-Andre Fleury in 2003 and the first skater since 1998 when Tampa Bay took Vincent Lecavalier. Lafrenière also joined Sidney Crosby as the only two pre-draft prospects to win CHL MVP more than once.

International Scouting Services labeled him as a “high-impact forward” who can “control and dominate games” and can “make smart decisions quickly.”

The Draft Analyst praised Lafrenière’s playmaking and skating (particularly his breakaway ability), adding that he “can be used in every situation, and his ability to dominate the puck no matter the in-game environment creates swaths of open ice for his mates. Lafrenière is an incredibly unselfish player, and his youthful exuberance when coupled with his physicality reveals a player of the throwback variety. Lafrenière seems to understand and execute set-plays on or off the puck, and he can be counted on as a reliable and tenacious forechecker who creates turnovers in the neutral zone.”

No word yet on whether he enjoys hot dogs.