{"id":693118,"date":"2026-10-23T01:54:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T01:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/693118\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T01:54:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T01:54:16","slug":"alexis-lafrenieres-rangers-role-is-growing-and-so-is-his-output","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/693118\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexis Lafreniere’s Rangers role is growing \u2014 and so is his output"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 The correlation between Alexis Lafreni\u00e8re\u2019s expanded role and the strongest start<\/a> of his NHL career is evident.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until his seventh season that the 2020 No. 1 overall pick was deployed on the top line, skated on the first power play unit and logged nearly 20 minutes of ice time a night, almost every night, from Day 1 of a new campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no use in rehashing all the reasons why it unfolded this way. The logjam of top-six forwards ahead of him when he was drafted is well documented and the inconsistencies in his game that made it difficult to entrust him with such assignments are known.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Through his first three and a half weeks with such responsibilities, however, Lafreni\u00e8re has thrived<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s opened up \u2014 or developed \u2014 other aspects of his offensive game,\u201d head coach Mike Sullivan said Thursday before the Rangers took on the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena. \u201cIn particular, his grind game down low in the offensive zone. He\u2019s always been a guy that\u2019s been dangerous off the rush. He\u2019s a talent. He\u2019s a talented player. Rush offense tends to be talent-driven. But one of the things that I try to challenge him with, when I first became the coach here, was the better teams in the league a lot of times they get numbers back, they take the rush away. So then what? How do you produce offense, right? I try to challenge him on his down-low game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York Rangers left wing Alexis Lafreniere (13) plays during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the New Jersey Devils in Newark, N.J., Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. Noah K. Murray for NY Post<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York Rangers left wing Alexis Lafreniere (13) reacts after scoring a second goal past Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) during the first period at Madison Square Garden in New York, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a lean guy, but he\u2019s hockey strong. He\u2019s so capable of creating offense from below the goal line, hanging on to pucks, rolling off of checks, and making next plays, getting inside at the net and creating off of a loose puck at the net front. He\u2019s got a great stick. He sees it extremely well and he\u2019s strong. We\u2019ve tried to challenge him as a coaching staff in developing that aspect of his game. I think when you look at the second half of the season last year and continuing through this year, that\u2019s the biggest area of his game that I think we\u2019ve seen the biggest growth.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not only was Lafreni\u00e8re tied for seventh in the NHL with seven goals entering Thursday\u2019s game, but the 25-year-old led the Rangers in goals and points (13). He had posted at least one point in seven of his prior eight games, including a six-game point streak that tied the longest of his career.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His four multipoint games this season \u2014 including an empty-net abetted hat trick against the Islanders <\/a>earlier this month \u2014 were the most of the Blueshirts and tied for the 11th most in the league.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGo beyond the box score with the Bombers\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Yankees by Greg Joyce, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Sullivan said he thinks Lafreni\u00e8re has \u201cmade a concerted effort\u201d in the game down low since the start of the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, Lafreni\u00e8re is averaging just under a minute and a half more ice time than last season. His increased involvement in the Rangers\u2019 game has led to an increased output of production and on-ice impact.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any question, I think [his expanded role] helps,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cOne of the things that I said to him when I became the coach was \u2026 we had a long conversation before we even stepped on the ice. We all wanted to try to help him build his game and get his game to another level, and he agreed. Part of my job, I think as the coach, is I got to provide a pathway for that player to do so. And so that\u2019s what I\u2019ve tried to do.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s getting significant power play time, he\u2019s playing in the top six. And to his credit, he\u2019s taken advantage of it. He\u2019s done a terrific job.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 The correlation between Alexis Lafreni\u00e8re\u2019s expanded role and the strongest start of his NHL career is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":693119,"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":["post-693118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-rangers","tag-alexis-lafreniere","tag-hockey","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-rangers","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkrangers","tag-nhl","tag-rangers","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117487734912103393","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693118","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=693118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/693119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}