Ever since Ryan McDonagh was traded at the 2018 trade deadline, the Rangers’ captaincy has been a hot topic for the team’s fans. The Rangers are likely to name a captain this year. Some of the leading candidates from the fans and the media are Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren. However, there is one player not getting consideration that should be. That player is Alexis Lafrenière.
Expect the Rangers to have a captain this season, first time since trading Ryan McDonagh. GM Chris Drury said he wants coach Gerard Gallant to get to know the players better, but certainly it sounds like nothing has changed in the thinking and they want to have a captain.
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) September 9, 2021
Alexis Lafrenière would be a very young captain. At 19 years old, he would be the fifth youngest captain ever. Only Connor McDavid, Gabriel Landeskog, Sidney Crosby, and Vincent Lecavalier were named captain at a younger age.
Lafrenière is no stranger to being a young captain either. In 2018, he captained Team Canada at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup. He was the second youngest player on the roster, only 16 years old at that tournament.
When talking about the next captain one thing needs to be said, and that is we are not in the locker room, and we don’t know what goes on in there. We don’t know who is vocal or how the leaders lead.
Naming Lafrenière captain will come with its benefits, as well as its potential risks.
One advantage to naming Lafrenière captain is that the Rangers are a young team. Naming him captain gives him the ability to grow as a player and leader as he continues to develop. Look at the Devils. They named Nico Hischier captain at 22 years old to lead their young developing team.
One risk you could say is the pressure that comes with wearing the C. When that letter gets slapped on your chest, all eyes turn to you. Whether it’s on the ice, in the locker room, or in the media, all eyes are on you. If there is a big moment in the game, you’re expected to be on the ice. With the media, you’re expected to answer all the tough questions. With the Wilson incident last year, the captain would’ve had to be front a center during all the commotion.
On the flip side, however, Lafrenière is no stranger to dealing with pressure. At 16, he won the CHL Rookie of the Year Award and as mentioned before captained Team Canada in the same year. After that point, he was pretty much the consensus number one pick for his draft year. Playing for Rimouski Océanic while being a consensus number one pick, he was constantly being compared to Sidney Crosby. Not to mention, he was the first Canadian to go number one overall since Connor McDavid.
Another argument against naming him captain could be his lack of NHL experience. Lafrenière played all 56 games in last year’s pandemic shortened season. For reference, Connor McDavid only played 45 games in his rookie year before being named captain at the start of his second season. The Rangers played in the toughest division this season, so the 56 games were against some of the best teams in the NHL uncluding Boston, Washington, Pittsburgh and the Islanders.
One other problem I could see is a potential divide in the locker room. Four months before Connor McDavid was named captain of the Oilers, Peter Chiarelli traded away Taylor Hall to not have a competing voice in locker room. There’s potential for locker room divide if members of the team feel someone like Zibanejad or Kreider is more deserving than Lafrenière.
Naming a young player captain can be a risk because of the potential pressure that brings on a young player. Crosby, Toews and McDavid not only had success, but led their teams to the playoffs. In Crosby’s first year as captain, they lost to the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final. Toews lost to the Red Wings in the Western Conference Finals in his first year. McDavid lost in the second round to Anaheim in his first season. Each of these teams were ready to make jump from rebuild to playoffs contention, while having their young stars leading the way.
The Rangers should name Alexis Lafrenière the next captain. Sure, it could add unnecessary pressure, but he’s dealt with it his entire junior career. Naming a young captain is a part of the NHL now. With some in the organization feeling he will be captain at some point anyway, why delay the inevitable?