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New York Rangers left wing Alexis Lafreni\u00e8re #13, with the puck in the 1st period. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\nMike Sullivan came up with a few tweaks to the lineup heading into Monday\u2019s game against Seattle at Madison Square Garden, perhaps most notably dropping Alexis Lafreni\u00e8re from the second line to the third, with Gabe Perreault moving to the second.<\/p>\n
Following the team\u2019s morning skate in Greenburgh, Sullivan said the switch was \u201cperformance-based\u201d and said the Rangers were looking for better production out of the consistently disappointing former first-overall pick whose playing time dipped in his previous two games.<\/p>\n
While Sullivan has made clear he likes Perreault\u2019s game and wants to give the 20-year-old more opportunities, the coach also left no doubt he\u2019s not satisfied with Lafreni\u00e8re, who has just nine goals on the year \u2014 and two over his past 16 games.<\/p>\n
Asked about the decision, Sullivan said, \u201cPart of it\u2019s performance-based. \u2026 We need more. We need more out of some guys. I think [Lafreni\u00e8re] is a guy who can bring more to the table for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Monday\u2019s 4-2 loss to Seattle, Lafreni\u00e8re was ineffective again skating alongside Noah Laba and Brennan Othmann \u2014 although Othmann provided a brief early spark after being recalled from AHL Hartford.<\/p>\n
New York Rangers left wing Alexis Lafreni\u00e8re #13, with the puck in the 1st period. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
\u201c[Lafreni\u00e8re] and I have had the conversation and part of my job is trying to provide a pathway for players to thrive and succeed,\u2019\u2019 Sullivan said. \u201cI think [Lafreni\u00e8re] is an extremely talented player. He\u2019s a good player. \u2026 We think he\u2019s capable of next-level play [and we] try to find a way to get him there.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Othmann hit the post twice Monday after a strong recent performance in the AHL, but he\u2019s still waiting for his first NHL goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking for players to earn their way onto the roster,\u2019\u2019 Sullivan said. \u201cIf they can make an impact, they\u2019ll get a chance to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sullivan acknowledged that Matt Rempe was \u201cnot completely healed\u201d from the thumb surgery that cost him 24 games earlier in the season. It\u2019s part of the reason Rempe sat on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want Rempe to make an impact on the game,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cHes not completely healed. That\u2019s just the reality. When he\u2019s at his very best, he makes an impact and you know what that impact looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
That impact, largely, is at least the threat of fighting.<\/p>\n
After returning from a broken thumb suffered in a fight with the Sharks\u2019 Ryan Reaves in October, Rempe hasn\u2019t dropped his gloves- which has made him much less effective.<\/p>\n
With the 6-foot-9 enforcer out, Taylor Raddysh was moved to the fourth line, alongside Jonny Brodzinski and Sam Carrick.<\/p>\n
Othmann\u2019s arrival coincided with Gabe Perreault replacing Lafreni\u00e8re on the second line, as Sullivan\u2019s faith in the 20-year-old has grown.<\/p>\n
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The coach has praised Perreault\u2019s improvement, especially with his poise with the puck and his playmaking ability.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s gotten fairly consistent playing time over the last three weeks, although he entered Monday with just one assist over his previous seven games.<\/p>\n
Will Cuylle has gone eight straight games without a point and Sullivan wants him to get to his style of play, saying Cuylle should \u201cbe a north-south guy\u201d who is at his best when he goes to the net and plays with physicality. That would allow him to take advantage of skating with playmakers Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad, which is why he\u2019s on the top line.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes, depending on which line we put him on, he has a tendency to get away from that north-south, straight-ahead game that we think he thrives in,\u2019\u2019 Sullivan said. \u201cI think it\u2019s been sporadic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sullivan said Adam Fox (long-term IR) and Igor Shesterkin (IR) are \u201cstatus quo.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Sullivan came up with a few tweaks to the lineup heading into Monday\u2019s game against Seattle at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5111],"tags":[304,5,3328,35,5190,5193,4,36,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-404763","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-rangers","8":"tag-alexis-lafreniere","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-rangers","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkrangers","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-rangers","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115886370772925574","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}