Trying to make it through dog days of summer and found a clip of Alexis Lafreniere 19 regular season goals.
I thought it would be fun to look back at his goals and see if there are any trends / insights we can glean about his goal scoring prowess and what to expect next year.
1st: Zibanejad cuts through the defense and with Lafreniere driving the net a mini 2 on 1 develops. Zibanejad fakes the shot and slides it across for the easy tap in.
2nd: Fox cuts wide around the defense and makes a great pass into Blais. Again it’s somewhat of a 2 on 1 downlow and Blais dekes under the goalie and gets it over to Alex for another east deposit. Laf driving the net (again). Good spatial awareness to get to the net and make himself an easy target
3rd: Fox carries it around the net and then finds Laf cutting down the wing. Pass was amazing but Laf made sure to fire it home. Again, he gets open in a prime scoring area and shows off his shot.
4th: I believe it’s a Rangers power play. Shot from the left side pops up in the air and plops down along the goal line before Laf sneaks in and slams it home. Mostly just a fortuitous bounce but again he’s in the right spot to put it away
5th: Gauthier breaks down the right wing, gets by the defenseman and is in a 2 on 1. Feeds it across for Laf who again shows off his quick release.
6th: Scores on the rebound of a Fox point shot.
Positives: Driving the net
7th: Giveaway by Elliot (TB goalie) and just shoots it into the empty net
8th: Similar but this time Strome steals it from Koskinen and sets up Laf for the “empty netter”
9th: Zibanejad one timer goes off the goalie and the post and Laf just pops it in from the crease.
10th: Puck squirts out of the corner and comes to Laf on his backhand.
Shows good patience in waiting a beat before releasing his shot and in just being in position to pounce on mistakes.
11th: Deflection of a point shot. Nothing exceptional
12th: Zibanejad makes a move on the far wing and then slides a pass across the “royal rod” to Laf who is coming down the slot with speed. Quick release left goalie with no chance.
13th: Point shot, save, rebound, tucked in past the goalie
14th: Gets behind the D, and as soon as he sees Chytil slip by his defender, he Drives the net. Receives the puck from Chytil and is closing in on the goalie with speed.
15th: Similar to previous goal where he gets the puck with speed in tight to the goalie and makes a quick move to his backhand
16th: Coming down his off wing with the puck on a 2 on 1, considers pass for a second, cradles the puck, and its in the net.
17th: OH BABY
18th: Pass from the corner to Laf just roaming in the slot and again he slams it home.
19th: 2 on 1. Pass across to Strome, back to Laf for the put in.
Laf benefitted from a number of great setups and good bounces but he also showed off a keen awareness of getting to the prime scoring areas and a quick release on his shot. As he continues to develop and assert himself physically it would be reasonable to expect more deflection and garbage goals. The other area where his goal scoring could take off is just getting more shots off. I think he’ll have more confidence to play his own game after last years playoffs and not defer so much to the Zibanejads and Kreider and Panarin. Plus the added benefit of respecting his shot will open up more passing lanes. With a secure spot on PP1 and in the top 6, I could see Laf getting 30-30-60 with outside shot of pushing assists up to 40 and 70 points total.
Honestly if the kids (Laf, KK, KAM, Schneider, Chytil) collectively take a big jump we should be primed for another deep run.
5 comments
I didn’t read this (yet) as I’m hopping on a meeting in a second, but the majority of Laf’s goals so far in his career have been the right place right time.
Lots of tap ins, which is not an insult. It speaks to high hockey IQ and finding the open space.
That 17th goal might be the nicest goal of the year by anyone on the team this year.
It’s still impressive to me that he scored 19 even strength goals last year in limited ice time. Out of all our kids, Laf (obviously and understandably) is the one I’m most excited for. He’s so smart with and without the puck, and has so much skill with the puck on his stick. If he can increase his acceleration just a little bit he’ll develop into that world beater we drafted 1st overall. He’s not slow, but he’s definitely lacking in that “extra gear” that would help him quickly separate from defenders.
One thing I noticed in the video, a noticeable amount of his goals came off the rush, firing a 1-timer on his off-wing. I know the d-side of the game is important, but I really don’t think he’ll struggle playing RW if he’s with Kreider and Zibanejad.
I’m seeing Laf beat these numbers this season.
17 is straight filth. Absolute silky smooth dangle. Hope he crushes it this season and gets close to or surpasses 30.