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Is a Panarin injury an opportunity for Lafrenière ?

By Steve Paulus |
New York Rangers left wing Artemi Panarin (10) celebrates after a goal . Credit: Bruce Bennett/Pool Photos-USA TODAY Sports
New York Rangers left wing Artemi Panarin (10) celebrates after a goal . Credit: Bruce Bennett/Pool Photos-USA TODAY Sports
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The worst case scenario for the New York Rangers is losing Artemi Panarin for an extended period of time. He is their best player and their leading scorer.  He is their offensive catalyst and forces the opposition to alter their defense, theoretically freeing other Rangers to have more room.  He plays over 20 minutes a game every game.  His skill makes his teammates better players.

How important is he to the team’s offense?   The bottom six forwards have combined for six goals and 16 points.  Panarin alone has five goals and 15 points.  That’s a big chunk of the team’s offense.

The Rangers are off Thursday so we won’t know about the severity of Panarin’s injury until before the Boston game.  You know that he will want to play, but he cannot risk making it worse, something that the team did against Boston when they put him out on the power play and then when he was mugged by Brad Marchand.  You have to believe that Marchand was well aware that Panarin was ailing and was doing his best to make it worse.

How bad would it be?

How bad would it be if he is out for a while?  It would be bad, but with one major change in the way the team is playing, it could be have less of an impact.   You know what it is, since it is one of the biggest issues facing the 2021 Rangers.  It’s Mika Zibanejad’s slow start.

The Rangers are treading water, barely able to hang onto a .500 record and they are doing it with Mika Zibanejad off to the second worst start of his career. Yes, it is the second worst start of his career. In 2014-15 with Ottawa, he had only two goals in his first 12 games compared to one goal and two assists this season.   He rebounded to score 20 goals and 46 points that season.

Zibanejad had his best game of the season against the Bruins and came very close to scoring at least twice.  He was dynamic in all three zones and although he is still passing up good scoring chances he looked like the Zibanejad of old.  He admitted that in his postgame interview, saying “I felt like my old self today.”

If Zibanejad can start scoring like he did last season, it will go a long way towards filling any gap left by a Panarin injury.  The only problem is that means the team will continue to stumble along since they need both Panarin and Zibanejad firing on all cylinders to be successful.

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A positive?

There could be one good thing that could come out of a Panarin injury. It could mean that Alexis Lafrenière will get to play more meaningful minutes.  Midway through the third period, he got two shifts on the left side of Ryan Strome and Kaapo Kakko. That raised expectations that he would play on that line, but those hopes were dashed when he was replaced by Phil Di Giuseppe.

This not a knock on Di Giuseppe, but when it comes to player development, you have to believe that the Rangers should be much more invested in Lafrenière’s future.  Yet, he played 5:12 in the third period while Di Giuseppe played 6:28.

What happens as a result?  Check out this tweet.

In the game on January 28 against Buffalo that he won with an overtime goal, the rookie played 15:27 minutes.  You would think that his first NHL goal under such dramatic circumstances woudl propel him to bigger and better things.  Here are his ice time totals for the next five games:  14:21, 9:00, 12:38, 14:02, 12:39. For the season he is averaging just over 14 minutes of ice time per game.

If Panarin is out for an extended period, when it comes to Alexis Lafrenière, what is best for the future of the New York Rangers?  Fewer than 14 minutes of ice time per game on a line with Brett Howden and Julien Gauthier or 18-19 minutes of ice time on the second line with Strome and Kakko?  Throw in some meaningful power play time as well.

Lafrenière is a player who is used to playing with the best players on his team. He is used to be the go-to played on the team, playing heavy minutes when the game is on the line.  With the Rangers, in a tie game against a top East Division rival with ten minutes left to play, with the team’s top left winger out of the lineup, he played three shifts, one lasting 53 seconds, the second lasting 28 seconds and the third lasting 26 seconds.  He played 1:47 in the last ten minutes.

David Quinn often talks about Lafrenière’s maturity and swagger, his physical play and his smarts, yet, he has not given Lafrenière a consistent chance to make a difference.  Why?  The answer i easy, Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider. No matter how you look at it, Lafrenière  is third on the depth chart.

An injury to Artemi Panarin could be an opening for the Rangers to see what the 19-year-old is made of.  Will he make mistakes? Sure.  Will he learn a lot?  Absolutely.  Is that better for the future of the team?  What do you think.

Stay tuned.

Must Read. Panarin hurt in OT loss. light

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