Vincent Z. Mercogliano of USA Today writes that he doesn’t expect the New York Rangers and young forward Alexis Lafrenière will engage in contract extension talks this summer when the 22-year-old becomes eligible. Lafrenière is entering the second and final year of an extension that will pay him just $2.325MM next season and is reportedly content with playing out the deal and negotiating an extension next summer when he will have arbitration rights. The Rangers are facing a major cap crunch this summer and could be in more trouble next July when a potential Igor Shesterkin extension will kick in.
A former first-overall pick in 2020, Lafrenière looked like a potential bust early in his career, producing modest offensive success in New York. However, his offensive production has improved in each season of his career, producing career highs last year in goals (28), assists (29), points (57), and games (82) played.
It’s unclear if the Rangers want to lock up Lafrenière long-term but it would make sense if they did, given that another improvement in his offensive production will surely push the AAV on his next contract up dramatically. Lafrenière is not just an offensive player but is willing to get involved physically and has no issues with getting to the high-danger areas and being difficult to play against.
If he takes another big step next season, there is no way to tell what a long-term extension could look like for St-Eustache, Quebec native, or what kind of salary cap gymnastics the Rangers would need to play to fit him under the salary cap.
Makes sense. I’m sure Alex is banking on his value going up, NYR like other teams are assuming the cap will go up, and any contract extension NYR offers, will not go into effect until next offseason anyways.
It’s all good. That’ll buy them time to make some moves and move some players like Trouba.
Seems like this is Alex’s decision to wait & not the rangers.
Why would he negotiate an extension this summer? He hasn’t done much in his 3 years in the league to get a big contract. For comparison sake he’s pretty much the 4th best player in the draft class behind Tim Stutzle, Lucas Raymond and Seth Jarvis.. Raymond is going to get paid this summer from Detroit. He is smart to wait one more year and try and maximize his value. Some players fit better in certain systems. NYR didn’t need him when they got lucky in the lottery. They made the playin tournament. I’m sure Stutzle wouldn’t be as good as he is if he went first to NY. The Rangers were deep with scorers.