On Wednesday, the New York Rangers confirmed the re-signing of restricted free agent forward Alexis Lafreniere to a two-year contract, with multiple reports Wednesday hinting at a $4.65 million extension, worth $ 2.3 M AAV.
While Lafrenière felt confident that the Rangers would resign him, despite not meeting expectations in past seasons as the club’s first overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft , it sounds like that two-year deal may be shorter…
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Lafrenière only had the one upcoming season to prove his worth in New York. This is how the insider explained it on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast with Jeff Marek:
“Everybody is kind of in a position where they’re saying, look, we’re going to try this under a new coach, see where it goes… if it’s not good next summer then I think you can move him at a number that I think teams can handle because I just think if it’s another year likes this they’re probably going to have to move on…To me it’s a 2-yr deal, but it’s a 1-yr deal in New York and then we will see”.
The Rangers probably decided to give Lafrenière one last chance before shipping him out due to a new coach coming in.
When Peter Laviolette was hired to take over behind the Rangers’ bench, he offered some positive news to Lafrenière, stating that he hopes to give him more responsibilities and to Kaapo Kakko next season. Laviolette could build off Lafreniere and Kakko’s career season they enjoyed in 2022-23. The latter put up career-high 18 goals and 40 points in all 82 games, while Lafrenière posted a career-best 39 points (16 goals, 23 assists) in one less contest.
For Lafrenière: he has no other choice. Put up great numbers now, or that two-year deal will be much shorter…
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