Why Rangers rising star should be ahead of Macklin Celebrini in Fantasy Hockey rankings

NHL: Stanley Cup Playoffs-New York Rangers at Carolina Hurricanes
Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

New York Rangers rising star Alexis Lafreniere is looking to build on his best NHL season heading into 2024-25. Primed to smash his career-highs of 28 goals and 57 points from a year ago, new NHL.com Fantasy Hockey rankings have Lafreniere ranked No. 116 in their Top 200 list of players.

Lafreniere joins a group of seven Rangers who made the list, along with Artemi Panarin, Igor Shesterkin, Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck, Adam Fox, and Mika Zibanejad.

Surprisingly, Lafreniere, the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, is ranked three spots behind Macklin Celebrini, this year’s first-overall pick, by the NHL.com Fantasy Hockey staff.

It is important to note that in standard Fantasy Hockey, points are earned for goals, assists, plus/minus, power-play points, shots on goal, and hits. While Celebrini should find how way consistently on to the score sheet, the 18-year-old may have a hard time staying on the positive end of the plus/minus category. Don’t expect very many hits, either.

Even though Celebrini is set to earn loads of ice time and opportunity, including on the power play, he is joining a San Jose Sharks team that bottomed out in the NHL last season with just 47 points. They scored 180 goals, second fewest in the NHL. This is a team in a massive rebuild and Celebrini is not going to get a whole lot of help offensively.

Down the road, it’s fair to say Celebrini projects to be a more dynamic offensive player than Lafreniere. But right now, from a Fantasy Hockey point of view, it’d appear that Lafreniere is the safer bet this season.

Related: Rangers core facing major pressure ahead of 2024-25 NHL season

Rangers’ Alexis Lafreniere could be steal in NHL Fantasy Hockey

NHL: New York Rangers at Montreal Canadiens
Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

Looking at Lafreniere, he registered 57 points last season, playing on one of the top lines in the League with Panarin and Trocheck. Additionally, the 22-year-old had 217 shots on goal, 75 hits, and was plus-two. If he continues to grow and develop, improvements are expected in nearly all of these categories. And his value will spike even more if he gets more run on the power play.

Playing on a successful team like the Rangers, Lafreniere should already be given an edge over Celebrini. Combining that with the fact that he is playing alongside two superstar veterans and has the potential to really break out this season after a starring run in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs makes the decision to rank him lower than Celebrini a bit of a head scratcher.

There is no denying that Celebrini has elite talent. However, considering all the categories that make up Fantasy hockey points, it is hard to see him out-performing Lafreniere in 2024-25.

One cautionary note here is that last year’s No. 1 pick, Connor Bedard of the Chicago Blackhawks, outscored Lafreniere in 2023-24. Bedard had 61 points (22 goals, 39 assists) playing 68 games for a miserable Blackhawks team. So, that’s worth factoring in to Celebrini’s situation this season.

While San Jose certainly improved this offseason, there’s not a heckuva lot there for Celebrini to work with. Looking at the top-200 fantasy rankings, the Sharks have just four players, and none higher than Celebrini at 113. The others are rookie Will Smith at 114, who is also oddly ranked above Lafreniere. Then forwards Tyler Toffoli at 163, and Mikael Granlund at 197.

Smith was San Jose’s first-round pick in 2023 and linemate of Rangers prospect Gabe Perreault at Boston College and with the United States at the 2024 World Junior Championship.

Above Lafreniere at 116 are the other six Rangers. His linemates Panarin and Trocheck are ranked at No. 7 and 32, respectively. Shesterkin is the highest-ranked goalie by NHL.com and sits at No. 21 among all players. Kreider is close by in the 25th slot. Fox is No. 42, and Zibanejad is ranked 65th.

Another former No. 1 overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky (2022) is ranked higher than Lafrieniere at 101, despite having seven fewer points last season and registering a minus-19 with the Montreal Canadiens. Like Lafreniere, he should be a top-line player this season. Unlike Celebrini, he’ll have quality talent surrounding him.

So what has Lafreniere ranked so low? While it may have taken some time for him to take flight, all signs point to a big year in his fifth NHL season.

So, when drafting fantasy teams this season, keep an eye on Lafreniere. He may be ranked lower than Celebrini, but should be considered as one of the prime breakout candidates heading into this season, and could end up being a mid-round steal.

Dane Walsh is a life-long fan of the New York Rangers. Growing up in the tri-state area, Dane has... More about Dane Walsh

Mentioned in this article:

More About: