Alexis Lafrenière is a surefire star, but how does the future New York Rangers winger compare to previous first overall picks?
New York Rangers fans are still brimming with excitement after winning the first overall pick in the draft, and with it, the opportunity to draft a special talent in Alexis Lafrenière. There is simply no disputing that Lafrenière is Canada’s best draft prospect since Connor McDavid, who was a generational forward prospect. That said, let’s just rip off the bandaid right away: despite his generational hockey IQ, Lafrenière is not a Connor McDavid or a Sidney Crosby level prospect. He falls somewhere below those two players.
In this piece, we take a look at how Lafrenière compares to previous prospects that ended up going first overall in order to begin setting the expectations for Rangers fans. I did this using two analytics tools, NHLe and Game Score Value Added (GSVA), both of which will be explained on the next slide. I then used Lafrenière’s comparables to show how we should expect Lafrenière to perform in his first season as a New York Ranger. Let’s dive in!