Why Rangers may prefer ‘to fix’ Alexis Lafreniere than trade him
It’s safe to say that the New York Rangers are going to pretty much dominate the rumor mill ahead of the March 6 NHL Trade Deadline, now that they publicly declared their intention to be sellers amid a roster retool. So, expect to hear plenty of rumors about Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck, Alexis Lafreniere, and other Rangers in the coming weeks.
NHL insider Elliotte Friedman spent quite a bit of time on his most recent 32 Thoughts podcast Monday weighing in on the Rangers and the trade deadline. When the conversation got around to Lafreniere, Friedman’s take was that the Rangers most likely will hold on to the polarizing 24-year-old forward.
“I think the challenge with trading a guy like Lafreniere is that if you’re the Rangers you’re still saying this guy was a No. 1 overall pick just a few years ago and you’re trading him like that,” Friedman said. “I have no question other teams are going to try and steal him, they’re going to say he’s not that guy. The Rangers can say fine, but we’d rather try and fix him and try to make it work here than sell him for 50 cents on the dollar.”
That said, Friedman believes that the Rangers must listen to any and all offers, especially since Lafreniere doesn’t have a no-move clause in his contract, and his modified no-trade clause doesn’t kick in until the 2027-28 season. That makes him much easier to trade than, say Panarin, who’s complete no-move clause limits where they can deal the pending unrestricted free agent, since he must sign-off on any trade.
Lafreniere is tied for fourth on the Rangers with 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists), playing all 49 games. Four of those points (one goal, three assists) came in the past two games, and he did have a career-high three assists in the rousing Winter Classic victory over the Florida Panthers on Jan. 2.
It’s those flashes of production, along with solid underlying numbers and analytics, along with his pedigree as the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, that likely still seduce the Rangers and intrigue other teams.
But the day-to-day inconsistency and fall-off after his breakthrough 2023-24 season, when Lafreniere established career highs with 28 goals and 57 points, make him a legit trade candidate.
His current contract makes him appealing to teams around the League, too. Of course, that also is a pretty good reason to hold on to him if you’re the Rangers. And there’s still time to move on from Lafreniere due to the length of his contract and the fact that there are no limitations on where he can be traded for another year or so.
“He’s signed to $7.45 (million annually) and he’s not a free agent for another six years. … So, to me it’s we’ll listen and we’ll see where it takes us,” Friedman stated.
More takeaways from Elliotte Friedman on what Rangers may do before NHL Trade Deadline
Like Lafreniere, Trocheck is a bit easier to move because he doesn’t own a complete no-move clause, though he does have a 12-team no-trade clause. Still, you can expect a lot of teams calling the Rangers about the 32-year-old center, who plays a premium position, is known for his big-game play, and is under team control for three more seasons after this at an affordable $5.625 million annual salary.
Here’s Friedman’s take on Trocheck: “I think the Rangers love Trocheck. I think their preference is to keep Trocheck. But I think they told him as they told some other guys, the way it’s going right now, we have to listen. We can’t make you any guarantees, we can’t make you any promises, we have nothing bad to say about you, but we have to listen and we have to see what’s out there.”
As for Panarin, the Rangers already informed their leading scorer that a contract extension is not forthcoming and that they will try to trade him, working in conjunction with his representatives.
By all accounts, and per his postgame comments after New York’s 6-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, Panarin wanted to remain with the Rangers and is a bit bewildered right now. No one knows what team or teams he’s willing to accept a trade to. Panarin could make this awfully difficult on the Rangers if he zeroes in on, say, only or two teams.
Here’s what Friedman thinks: “If you ask teams around the League … obviously, they don’t believe there a lot of places he wants to go. And secondly, what they do think is that his preference will be an extension … the early indication is that teams think he’d rather move once than twice, and his preference is an extension over two moves.”
Needless to say, that complicates things even more if Panarin only accepts a trade if he lands a huge extension with his new team.
That got Friedman thinking about the San Jose Sharks. How that could be a good fit for a trade, and a pretty cool situation for Panarin to play alongside budding superstar Macklin Celebrini.
“Panarin right shot, Celebrini left shot. Imagine those guys playing together,” Friedman said. “I have no idea if Panarin would even consider that. But you just talk about fun matchups, fun combinations, something we’d all like to see, Celebini-Panarin could be an incredible duo. … This is going to be Panarin’s call, though.”
Rangers general manager Chris Drury laid his cards on the table last week, but he clearly doesn’t own all the cards in the deck.
Stay tuned.
