Why Alexis Lafrenière and Kaapo Kakko don’t fit in the Rangers top 6

The New York Rangers organization does not generally follow the standard script. They have drafted players against the consensus pick. They have built a contender on elite goaltending rather than strength at center. And since February of 2018, the New York Rangers rebuild has been anything but standard.

Did the New York Rangers really rebuild?

The Rangers began the rebuild with a notice to the fans and began to sell off highly valued and fan favorite players. But just one season into the rebuild, they made a splash in free agency by signing Artemi Panarin in July of 2019. less than a year later, at the 2020 trade deadline, the team decided to extend Chris Kreider.

These actions have led the New York Rangers down the path of a hybrid rebuild. They have torn it down in part, but retained and  or acquired key pieces to raise the team back into the tick of the playoff race. However, bucking the trend and not following the standard rebuild protocols, has had unintended consequences.

The New York Rangers knew that their rebuild sell off trades would provide them with valuable assets for the future. What they could not have known was that they would score big wins in the draft lottery in consecutive years. In doing so, the Rangers were able to draft Kaapo Kakko second overall in 2019 and Alexis Lafrenière first overall in 2020. How these players fit in will go a long way towards the success of the team now, and in the coming years.

A ghost of coaches past

On November 30, 2021, the much beleaguered former coach of the New York Rangers, David Quinn, was interviewed on the Cam & Strick Podcast. During the interview, the former Rangers bench boss summed up the current situation facing these young stars.

“When you go to a team that finished dead last and you don’t have a lot of high end players and then you step in, y’know, you play them on the top lines, they get all these minutes, they get all these opportunities because, y’know, their on a team that just isn’t that good. But, well, these two guys step into a situations where you’ve got Panarin, Zibenejad, Kreider, Buchnevich, Strome ,Jesper Fast, I mean, you’ve got legit top six forwards. So its hard for them, its hard for you as a coach to just put them up there and let them go because thats just not how its going to work. Listen, as much as a head coach has management to answer to, you have a locker room to answer to.”  – David Quinn

Though his message was not positively received, Quinn tried to put his players in the best spots for them to succeed.

“If you can be respectful to your players and hold them accountable and let them know that every decision you make has their best interest at heart, they may not like it and at that moment they may be pissed at ya’, but when they put their head on the pillow at night, they know you care”  –  David Quinn

Quinn went on to add

“These two guys {Lafrenière and Kakko} are going to be great players, they really are, but it was unfair to them, the expectations because you get drafted first and second overall, the situation they were going into wasn’t the same as the situation some of those other high end picks were going into. They were coming to a pretty good hockey team with some pretty good forwards.”   – David Quinn

(For those who are interested in the full interview, it can be found here, with the interview starting at about the 55 minute mark.)

All said, based on how the New York Rangers organization approached their rebuild has dramatically affected the development, both actual and perceived, of these two players.

Lafreniere’s deployment issues are two fold. First, as David Quinn noted, Lafreniere’s ascent to top six left wing is blocked. With Panarin leading the team in scoring and Kreider scoring goals at a career best pace, this is unlikely to change for the next few seasons. The second issue is that neither Quinn, nor the current coach, Gerard Gallant are particularly comfortable deploying Lafrenière on the right wing.

Its the Dynamic Duo, not trio

While on the top line with Mika Zibanejad and Kreider, Lafrenière ‘s offense appeared to blossom, however, the line itself was made less effective. At even strength the top line with Lafreniere deployed on it scored 3.17 goals per sixty minutes (p/60) and surrendered 2.49 goals against p/60. With any other winger the Zibanejad, Kreider duo has scored 3.49 goals p/60 while surrendering only 2.26 goals against p/60.

The second issue facing Lafreniere is that the defensive play, when switching to ones off wing is not always a simple thing. Almost immediately the player is at a defensive disadvantage. The play comes at a defending player in reverse, generally to the players weak side, making every pivot, turn and reaction that more difficult. A scenario coach Gallant recognized.

There are also more technical aspects of the game a switch to the off wing creates. Ken Dryden in his book The Game explained one such technicality. In trying to gain even the smallest advantage over the Soviets, the Czechoslovakians invented the Left Wing Lock. This system is designed to force the puck carrier to always face two defenders while funneling the play to the right wing. Most of the Soviets were left handed shooters, leaving their right wing on his backhand along the boards, giving the advantage to the left handed, left side defenseman on his forehand.

Another was noted by Steve Valiquette, during a recent Rangers telecast. Off wing players often cause problems for their goaltender when keeping their sticks in the passing and shooting lanes. While deflecting the puck off the backhand of the blade can help deaden a puck, the curve of the blade creates a ramp and will elevate the puck instead.