The New York Rangers' 2025-26 season will ultimately go down as one of their worst in recent memory. The team underperformed out of the gate, and a brutal January resulted in them going for a retool. But their play of late has shown a lot of promise, even after trading players like Artemi Panarin. One of the bright spots on the team is Alexis Lafrenière, who has really turned the corner with his play.
Lafrenière, the Rangers first-overall pick in 2020, has had an up-and-down career, and it looked as though he was heading for another rough season. But since the team traded Panarin, Lafrenière truly stepped up his game, becoming one of the Rangers' most productive players alongside star Mika Zibanejad.
Ahead of Tuesday's game against the New Jersey Devils, head coach Mike Sullivan talked about Lafrenière's improvement this year. Sullivan said that one of the things he wanted the winger to do was to play more on the interior of the offensive zone. Sullivan says Lafrenière continues to grow in that area, and that it was something that he challenged the young forward to improve upon before training camp.
Mike Sullivan said watching film to prepare as Rangers head coach helped him to bring offensive insights to Alexis Lafrenière
— Rangers Videos (@SNYRangers) March 31, 2026
"I tried to challenge him and say hey, here's an opportunity for you to grow your game and I think most recently he's really embraced it" pic.twitter.com/L7OYWdvhcV
"I tried to challenge him and say hey, here's an opportunity for you to grow your game and I think most recently he's really embraced it," said Sullivan.
Mike Sullivan reveals challenge he issued Alexis Lafrenière before season
Sullivan said that with his skillset, Lafrenière is able to use his stick to get the puck out of the tight spaces on the interior of the offensive zone. That, and his vision and puck skills allow him to find the open teammate. Considering his play as of late, Lafrenière is thriving.
As mentioned earlier, Lafrenière had a rough start to the season, with reports indicating that the Rangers could be open to trading him at the March 6 deadline. Instead, Lafrenière put an end to those talks and now looks like the team's answer on the top line.
Before Panarin was traded on Feb. 5, Lafrenière had 12 goals and 20 assists to his credit. Since then, Lafrenière put up 10 goals and 10 assists. One of his best performances arrived on March 10, where he recorded his second career hat trick in a 4-0 win over the Calgary Flames. On March 16, Lafrenière was named the first star of the entire NHL for the week ending March 15 after recording five goals and two assists in four games.
The Rangers front office and player development had been highly criticized during the low points of this season. The top draft picks haven't panned out and the AHL team was among the worst in that league. It felt as though there was no help on the way. But in this final stretch of the season, Rangers fans know that Lafrenière could be a true difference maker for the team. Not to mention, young players like Adam Sýkora , Dylan Garand, Drew Fortescue, Tye Kartye, and Jaroslav Chmelař have shown promise late this season.
Sullivan figured out how to get the most out of Lafrenière. It took a couple of months, but the first-overall pick looks like one of their top players.