Enough with the Lafrenière bashing

When coach Gerard Gallant innocuously said that he want to see “more from Laffy,” it unleashed a torrent of comments and reports about the vaunted top draft pick.  The fact that Gallant moved him off the top line to the third line was proof that the New York Rangers’ picked a lemon when they took him first overall just a year ago.  It’s time to calm down.

First off, while Alexis Lafrenière was the consensus number one pick in the NHL Entry Draft, there were few who proclaimed him the kind of generational player many Ranger fans expected.  He’s not Sidney Crosby or Connor McDavid or Auston Matthews.   Those kind of players don’t come around very often.  Since the Pittsburgh Penguins tanked in order to draft Mario Lemieux, here’s a list of the forwards picked first overall who scored18 goals or fewer in the season that they were drafted? Why 18 goals?  That’s the prorated number for Lafrenière if he had played a full 82 game season instead of  a COVID-shortened 56 game campaign.

1. Jack Hughes – 7 goals (2019)
2. Nail Yakupov  – 17 goals (2012)
3. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – 18 goals (2011)
4. Rick Nash – 17 goals  (2002)
5. Patrik Stefan – 5 goals (1999)
6. Vincent Lecavalier – 13 goals (1998)
7. Joe Thornton – 3 goals (1997)
8. Owen Nolan – 3 goals (1990)
9. Pierre Turgeon – 14 goals  (1987)

Would anyone call Lafrenière  a bust if he ended up with a career like Nash, Lecavalier, Thornton, Nolan or Turgeon?

Some highly regard top picks didn’t score many more than 18 goals in their draft years. Here are a few:

1. Nico Hischier – 20 goals (2017)
2. Patrick Kane – 21 goals (2007)
3. Nathan MacKinnon – 24 goals (2013)
4. Taylor Hall – 22 goals (2010)
5. John Tavares – 24 goals (2009)
6. Steven Stamkos – 23 goals (2008)

That’s a list of All-Stars and trophy winners.

There are other reasons for Lafrenière’s lower production numbers that have to be taken into account. He didn’t play hockey for almost a year due to COVID and he had a shortened training camp.  It was a rude awakening for a player who was accustomed to playing at a higher level and many more minutes in the QMJHL.

It showed in his slow start.   In his first 33 games he had only four goals and nine points.  In his last 23 games he had eight goals and 12 points.  Over 82 games that’s a 29 goal, 43 point pace.

Another big reason why other top picks have scored more is that in most cases they were drafted by bad teams and were immediately thrust into high profile, top six roles.  Because the Rangers were a team that qualified for the postseason (albeit the Stanley Cup Qualifier), yet lucked out and won the draft lottery, Lafrenière joined a team where he was third on the depth chart at left wing.

That’s especially true on the power play.  He averaged 1:17 minutes of ice time on the power play last season and that was always on the second unit that barely got any ice time and it was usually as the penalty was close to expiring.  This year, he’s averaging 3:30.  Kane and MacKinnon scored one third of their goals on the PP as rookies.  Tavares scored 11 of his 24 goals with the man advantage, Stamkos scored nine of 23.  Lafrenière has not scored a power play goal yet in his career.  They will come.

When it comes to Lafrenière, there’s something important to remember, he is still very young.