Latest On Artemi Panarin
Jan. 30th: A trade market is neatly coming together after the New York Rangers announced their plan to hold star winger Artemi Panarin out of the lineup until the Olympic break. Nearly every team in the league is weighing their chances to land the former 100-point scorer, though some are getting caught up on the contingency that any trade must come with a contract extension. The market, and the hangups, were outlined by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas in the latest 32 Thoughts podcast episode.
More than that, the Capitals have the future capital to build an enticing return. Their prospect pool is led by NHL rookie Ryan Leonard, who played on a line with Rangers top prospect Gabriel Perreault for four years straight in junior hockey. Washington also has flashy scorer Andrew Cristall, productive big men Ilya Protas and Eriks Mateiko, and first-round picks Lynden Lakovic and Terik Parascak in their prospect pool. While it’s likely that multiple of those players are on Washington’s list of untouchables, the chance to make a Cup heave with Panarin could be enough to force their hand.
Panarin has continued to demand respect into this season. He leads the Rangers in scoring with 19 goals and 57 points in 52 games, despite the team ranking in the bottom-six of goals scored. Panarin reached 37 goals and 89 points in 80 games last season. It was his encore performance after he vindicated back-to-back 90-point seasons with a career-best 49 goals and 120 points in the 2023-24 season. He has averaged 35 goals and 100 points per 82 games played since turning 30 in 2021. With no signs of slowing down, it appears he’ll be worth the groundbreaking trade package he seems certain to land before the Trade Deadline. This move will push New York firmly into a rebuild, and could push a new name into the group of Stanley Cup contenders.
Rangers Claim Vincent Iorio Off Waivers From Sharks, Assign Brett Berard To AHL
After moving out Carson Soucy earlier this week, the Rangers have added some young defensive depth. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that New York has claimed defenceman Vincent Iorio off waivers from the Sharks. To make room on the roster, the Rangers announced (Twitter link) that forward Brett Berard has been sent down to AHL Hartford.
The 23-year-old started the season as a depth defenseman with Washington, the team he was originally drafted by in the second round back in 2021. After playing primarily at the AHL level over his first three seasons (with a total of nine NHL appearances during that time), the Capitals rostered him to start this year in a reserve role, worried about losing him on waivers. Sure enough, that’s what happened soon after as San Jose scooped him up in mid-October amidst some injuries to their back end.
Iorio was in and out of the lineup with the Sharks. He played regularly after being claimed but after a couple of weeks, he was in the press box. Eventually, he agreed to a conditioning stint in the minors with the Barracuda and was productive, tallying seven assists in just six games with them. Upon being recalled in late November, Iorio returned to somewhat of a regular role until recently as he has been scratched for the last two weeks. Overall, Iorio has played in 21 games this season with San Jose, notching three assists and 32 blocked shots while averaging 16:30 per night of playing time.
While the Sharks likely would have liked to have kept Iorio around, a roster crunch forced their hand. With the pending returns of Philipp Kurashev and Shakir Mukhamadullin today following their IR activations per a team announcement (plus Kiefer Sherwood not too far behind), San Jose needed a roster spot and Iorio was the one who lost his. Once Sherwood is activated, another spot will need to be cleared up as well.
Meanwhile, with the Rangers embarking on some form of retool in the coming weeks, they will be moving out more pieces before the trade deadline in March. This claim will allow them to get a look at a young defender in Iorio to assess if he can be part of their plans moving forward while also giving them insurance should any other blueliners be moved. He’s in the final season of his entry-level contract, one that carries a cap hit of just over $814K, and will be eligible for restricted free agency this summer.
As for Berard, he was only recalled on Tuesday and got into one game while up with the big club, bringing his season total to 13. He’s still looking for his first point of the season, however. The 23-year-old has six goals and a dozen assists in 30 games with the Wolf Pack and will get a chance to return to a bigger role with them after averaging just 10:33 per night with the Rangers.
Artemi Panarin Interested In Joining Florida Panthers
- The jury is still out on which team will ultimately acquire Artemi Panarin from the New York Rangers. On today’s episode of Insider Trading, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun indicated that Panarin’s camp has contacted the Florida Panthers (among others) about potentially facilitating a trade. Still, LeBrun poured some cold water on that idea, indicating that it would be nearly impossible for the Panthers to afford an extension, and Panarin has reportedly made that a requirement.
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New York Rangers Recall Brett Berard
Now that they’re committed to sitting out Artemi Panarin until he’s eventually traded, the New York Rangers needed another forward to fill the void. According to a team announcement, the Rangers have recalled Brett Berard from the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack.
Today’s transaction marks the fourth time that Berard has been recalled by New York this season. Throughout his previous three recalls, he appeared in 12 games for the Rangers, going scoreless while earning a -1 rating, averaging 10:42 of ice time per game. He’ll likely slot into a similar bottom-six role, if he plays at all.
Regardless, it’s a significant decrease in NHL action for Berard compared to last season. During the 2024-25 campaign, Berard played in 35 games with New York, registering six goals and 10 points with a -6 rating, averaging 10:43 of ice time. That limited his availability in Hartford, where he scored nine goals and 23 points in 30 games. He has already played the same number of games for the Wolf Pack this season, putting up six goals and 18 points.
Despite the relatively solid offensive output last season for a former fifth-round pick, there were some concerns with Berard’s play on the defensive side of the puck. That’s not uncommon for a younger forward. At even strength, he concluded the 2024-25 season with an 89.2% on-ice SV%. Still, he’s improved drastically this season, managing a 95.0% mark, albeit in fewer appearances.
At any rate, given that the Rangers are expected to make a few trades leading up to the March 6 trade deadline, there will likely be more opportunities for Bedard. If that’s the case, he’ll be in range of usurping his total games played from last year.
San Jose Sharks Interested In Artemi Panarin
The New York Rangers made waves yesterday when they held star forward Artemi Panarin out of their lineup for roster management reasons, indicating that the team plans on trading the player at some point in the near future. One team that has emerged as a contender for Panarin’s services is the San Jose Sharks. According to Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now, the Sharks “have inquired” about trading for Panarin, and Panarin “would be willing to sign an extension with San Jose.”
It was reported in no uncertain terms yesterday that Panarin, who owns a full no-move clause and therefore has complete control over the trade process, is only interested in being dealt to a team where he will not be a rental player; he’s only interested in trades to teams where he sees himself playing beyond 2025-26. Based on Peng’s report, it appears the Sharks are one of those teams.
That San Jose is in a position to potentially swing a deal for Panarin is a real surprise, at least based on the position their franchise appeared to be in at the start of the season. The rebuilding Sharks were the NHL’s worst team last season, and few expected them to make such a sizable leap in 2025-26. The generally held belief was that while San Jose was likely to improve, they’d still need to develop and add more talent before seriously competing for a playoff spot.
The brilliance of star pivot Macklin Celebrini has changed things. He’s played like a legitimate Hart Trophy contender, scoring 78 points in 51 games and powering the Sharks to a surprising 27-21-3 record, good for the Western Conference’s final playoff spot.
The Sharks are a team on the rise, and it’s understandable that they’d be interested in adding Panarin to their already extremely talented forward group. While Panarin, at 34, doesn’t fit the Sharks’ long-term vision, his addition could provide a serious boost to both the team’s near-term competitive hopes, as well as the development of some of their younger scoring forwards. 
Panarin, who has 57 points in 52 games, has for the bulk of his time with the Rangers been one of the NHL’s premier wingers. There have been few more lethal scoring threats than Panarin at his position, and one has to believe getting the chance to play with, and learn from Panarin could pay dividends for young scorers such as Will Smith, William Eklund, and even Michael Misa down the line.
While the Sharks are only one of likely several teams to be interested in Panarin, there are a few factors both working against them, and in their favor.
San Jose’s status as a West Coast team may hurt them. The Athletic’s Vincent Z. Mercogliano reported that Panarin has a preference to sign with an Eastern Conference team. Mercogliano indicated the comparable ease of travel back to Russia could be a factor that helps explain the player’s Eastern Conference preference. It is worth noting that while he might prefer to stay east, Panarin is not entirely ruling out Western Conference landing spots, like San Jose.
Working in the Sharks’ favor is the fact that their GM is no stranger to making deals with the Rangers. Sharks GM Mike Grier used to work alongside Rangers GM Chris Drury in New York’s hockey operations department, and this wouldn’t be the first trade the pair complete together.
Additionally, the Sharks are owners of one of the league’s top prospect pools, meaning they can offer the Rangers a greater degree of choice to construct their ideal return package, whereas other clubs looking to acquire Panarin may only have a small handful of premier young players to dangle.
While there’s no guarantee, of course, that Panarin does end up a Shark, Peng’s report clearly indicates they are a team to watch as this process unfolds.
Photos courtesy of Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Rangers Sitting Artemi Panarin For Roster-Related Reasons
6:42 PM: Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports that Panarin is seeking a contract extension before he’ll sign off on any trade. With the Rangers committed to holding him out through the Olympic break if needed, Panarin now has ample time to try to work out a deal with his next team.
5:28 PM: According to Mollie Walker of the New York Post, the New York Rangers are healthy-scratching Artemi Panarin for roster-related reasons. Not only will Panarin sit tonight against the New York Islanders, but Walker shared that he won’t be back in the lineup before the upcoming Olympic break.
That means, at least in the short-term future, that Panarin will miss the next four games for the Rangers. In all likelihood, he has played his last game for the Rangers.
Still, there’s no indication that a Panarin trade is particularly close. Because of the no-movement clause included in his contract, Panarin would have to greenlight any trade out of New York. It is believed that the Rangers have asked Panarin to provide a list of teams he would be willing to join, and today’s news suggests that Panarin has at least offered them a few options.
It’ll be interesting to see how long New York is willing to keep Panarin on the sidelines. Because there’s no indication a trade is close, and not every team linked to Panarin has sufficient cap space to acquire Panarin (though they would by the time the trade deadline rolls around), there’s a possibility that a deal won’t materialize until closer to the deadline. It would be unlikely, but that worst-case scenario could have Panarin without game action for over a month.
Regardless, if he has already played his last game with New York, he has finished as one of the organization’s best offensive players ever. Since joining the Rangers ahead of the 2019-20 campaign, Panarin has scored 205 goals and 607 points in 482 games with a +68 rating. He has consistently maintained a CorsiFor% above 50.0% at even strength and was a top-five scorer in the league as recently as the 2023-24 season.
Much of the concern regarding Panarin’s tenure with the Rangers has stemmed from a perception that he “disappears” during the playoffs. This claim is wholly unfounded.
Although Panarin hasn’t maintained his regular-season scoring pace in the postseason, he has recorded 19 goals and 53 points in 62 playoff games since joining the Columbus Blue Jackets before the 2017-18 season. Exclusively with the Rangers, he’s registered 12 goals and 35 points in 46 games while averaging more than 20 minutes per night, helping the team reach two Eastern Conference Finals.
It’s an evolving situation, but Panarin should be with a new team relatively soon.
New York Islanders Acquire Carson Soucy
9:40 p.m.: The Islanders have now officially announced their acquisition of Soucy.
7:10 p.m.: While no deal has been officially completed to this point, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reports that the Rangers will receive a 2026 third-round pick from the Islanders in exchange for the veteran defenseman. That’s identical to the price the Rangers paid the Canucks to acquire Soucy in March of last year.
Soucy was held out of the Rangers’ lineup for their game tonight against the Boston Bruins for “roster management reasons,” a source with knowledge of the situation told Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press. Again, while no trade has been officially announced, it appears overwhelmingly likely that Soucy will end up an Islander at some point in the very near future.
The Rangers also made two roster moves today to prepare themselves for the loss of Soucy. New York sent spare forward Anton Blidh back down to their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, and recalled veteran blueliner Connor Mackey. Mackey’s recall gives New York a seventh defenseman for its active roster once Soucy is officially transferred to the Islanders.
12:20 p.m.: The Rangers and Islanders are deep in talks on a deal that would send defenseman Carson Soucy across town to Elmont, Vince Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic reports. If the trade doesn’t get materialized today, Soucy has still played his last game as a Blueshirt – he’ll be scratched for tonight’s game against the Bruins to protect him from an injury, Mercogliano said.
Soucy, 31, is purely a shutdown threat at this stage of his career. He was a fifth-round pick by the Wild back in 2013 and took a long development path through college and the minors before emerging as a full-time piece for the 2019-20 season. After two full years in Minnesota, he was plucked by the Kraken in the 2021 expansion draft.
Since then, Soucy hasn’t spent more than two full seasons with an organization. Upon becoming an unrestricted free agent for the first time in 2023, he inked a three-year, $9.75MM deal with the Canucks worth $3.25MM annually. He’s in the final year of that deal now, having waived his no-trade clause last season to facilitate a deal to the Rangers at the deadline. He now finds himself on the move once again, but won’t need to travel very far as the New York clubs complete their first trade with each other since 2010 and just the fourth all-time.
At best, his free-agent splash in Vancouver can be described as fair value. He missed more than half of his only full season in Vancouver with various injuries before posting a career-worst -11 rating in 75 appearances with the Canucks and Blueshirts last season. This year, while his eight points and a +4 rating in 46 games look acceptable enough for a second or third-pairing threat, his underlying numbers show an uglier picture. His two most frequent 5-on-5 pairings, on the left side with William Borgen and Braden Schneider, have both controlled a team-worst 42.4% of expected goals, per MoneyPuck. His 43.8% Corsi share at even strength also ranks last among Rangers defenders despite him seeing easier deployment than Borgen, Schneider, and Urho Vaakanainen.
Soucy was a great two-way piece lower on Seattle’s depth chart during his two-year run there, though, including a career-best 10 goals and 21 points in 64 games during the 2021-22 season. The 6’4″, 211-lb lefty also averages 101 blocks and 129 hits per 82 games for his career, so he brings a physical edge to an Isles blue line that’s lost high-paid shutdown threat Alexander Romanov for virtually the entire season due to a shoulder injury. With righty Ryan Pulock now also dealing with an upper-body injury, Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche won’t play the waiting game as the Isles gun for a playoff berth in the first year of the Matthew Schaefer era.
While Soucy’s acquisition is clearly targeted at ending the third-pairing lefty rotation that’s fallen in the hands of AHL call-ups Isaiah George, Travis Mitchell, and Marshall Warren in Romanov’s absence, there’s value in his versatility – he’s played plenty on the right side in his career with no real adverse effects. There’s also a benefit for the Isles’ budgeters in his contract structure. While he counts for $3.25MM against the cap, he’s only owed $2.5MM in actual salary this season as a result of his frontloaded deal.
Latest On Artemi Panarin
New York Rangers leading scorer Artemi Panarin is arguably the best skater likely to be traded in advance of this season’s trade deadline, and as a result, it appears the Rangers are set to receive a significant package of assets in exchange for the pending UFA’s services. Yesterday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on the Saturday Headlines segment of Hockey Night in Canada that the Rangers’ “starting point” in terms of their asking price on any Panarin trade is the package received by the New York Islanders when they traded away Brock Nelson last year.
The Islanders received a first-round pick, top prospect Calum Ritchie, and a third-round pick from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Nelson, who was also a pending UFA. That would indicate that the Rangers are, at least, looking for a first-rounder and a high-quality prospect in exchange for Panarin. Nelson was, and is, certainly not of the same caliber of talent as Panarin, but unlike Panarin, Nelson has the extremely valuable attribute of being a natural center, which upped his value considerably. Friedman named the Anaheim Ducks, Washington Capitals, and the Los Angeles Kings as teams that are considering making a pitch to acquire Panarin. The veteran, who has 56 points in 51 games this year, has the protection of a full no-move clause in his contract.
Rangers GM Chris Drury Should Be On The Hot Seat
The New York Rangers’ communications release last week showed the world a couple of things. The first was that the team was headed towards a retool, which was pretty evident to anyone who has watched them this season.
The second was that the team needs to move on from the current general manager, Chris Drury, but it’s doubtful they will. The current predicament the Rangers are in can’t be placed squarely at Drury’s feet, but many of the issues the team is going through were the result of his roster management, and the fans have let him and the team know it.
When Drury first took on the role of associate general manager in February 2021, it was clear he would eventually run an NHL team. It didn’t take long.
He was handed the job as president and general manager in May 2021 after the Rangers missed the playoffs and fired president John Davidson and GM Jeff Gorton. That was a banner day for Drury, but it came at a strange time for the franchise, which had been building a solid core of young players and was close to pivoting into a contender.
At the same time, they had missed the playoffs four years in a row and were just two days removed from the notorious Tom Wilson incident at Madison Square Garden. Drury took control and hit the ground running in the summer of 2021.
His summer was clearly shaped by what had happened to the Rangers during the Wilson incident on May 3, 2021. Drury single-handedly re-configured the team, and not in a good way, although they would enjoy some short-term success in 2022 and 2024.
Drury fired head coach David Quinn and replaced him with Gerard Gallant. There was nothing wrong with that move, but Drury then spent the rest of the summer setting fire to the Rangers roster and ultimately a lot of cap space and assets.
Drury started his summer by signing forward Barclay Goodrow to a six-year deal carrying a $3.64MM AAV, meant to bring toughness and grit to the Rangers lineup. It was a massive overpay, panned by many, who agreed that Drury gave too much term and money to a player who wasn’t productive enough.
A week later, Drury moved Pavel Buchnevich to the St. Louis Blues for Sammy Blais and a 2022 second-round pick. The move, which might go down as one of the worst so far in the 2020s, effectively opened a massive hole in New York’s top six that they didn’t have a player to fill.
As if the Buchnevich deal wasn’t bad enough, Drury then signed Patrik Nemeth to an ill-advised three-year deal worth $7.5MM, which the Rangers had to burn two second-round picks to dump on the Arizona Coyotes a year later. At the time, some folks might have claimed it was a good move to move on from Nemeth and open up cap space for other moves (which it was). However, eventually burning through cap space and assets catches up to you, as the Rangers have found out over the last year and a half.
Right after signing Nemeth, Drury made another move to add toughness, trading for Ryan Reaves of the Vegas Golden Knights (for a third-round pick) and giving him a contract extension. Much like with Nemeth and Goodrow, Drury eventually realized he had made a mistake in acquiring the player and had to pivot. Reaves was shipped to Minnesota 16 months after he was acquired for a fifth-round pick.
The summer of 2021 began with Drury significantly misreading the Rangers’ roster. Still, his poor work during that time is often forgotten because he made some good moves the following season at the 2022 trade deadline, acquiring the likes of Andrew Copp and Frank Vatrano and leading the team to the Eastern Conference Finals.
The summer of 2022 and beyond saw better work from Drury, as he traded Alexandar Georgiev for draft picks, moved on from Nemeth and Reaves, sent Nils Lundkvist to the Dallas Stars for a first-round pick, and signed Vincent Trocheck as a UFA. Trading Georgiev was necessary and was probably the best long-term move for the team, while sending Lundkvist to the Stars was a gamble for both sides, but given his poor performance to this point, it was probably a clever play for Drury.
There have been solid moves by Drury, but unfortunately for the Rangers, the wins have been far outweighed by the losses. The rest of 2022 saw the Rangers claim Jake Leschyshyn off waivers and sign defenseman Ben Harpur. They also locked up forward Filip Chytil to a four-year deal that seemed fine at the time but would eventually be moved in the 2025 J.T. Miller trade.
The Trocheck signing yielded immediate results, as the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native was a seamless fit with the Rangers, providing two-way play and offensive numbers above his career average. Trocheck has offered tremendous value to the Rangers as he crosses the halfway point of his seven-year deal, and he is in the midst of a solid season with New York despite the team’s poor play. Given the rising cap, Trocheck could be a valuable trade chip, although it’s likely the Rangers will want to hang onto him if they are, in fact, completing a retool.
The 2023 trade deadline was one to forget for Drury, as he went all in, trading for Vladimir Tarasenko, Niko Mikkola, Patrick Kane and Tyler Motte. The moves for Mikkola and Motte didn’t push many assets out the door, nor did the Tarasenko trade. But trading for Kane was a move that probably didn’t need to happen after the Tarasenko trade, and it relieved the Rangers of another three draft picks in exchange for a Kane who wasn’t playing at full capacity due to a hip injury.
The wheels came off for the Rangers in the first round of the 2023 playoffs, as they fell to the New Jersey Devils in seven games, in what could best be described as an uninspired performance that showed a lack of leadership.
Drury spent the summer of 2023 overcorrecting this issue, but it appeared to work as the team reached the Eastern Conference Finals once again in 2024. Drury signed aging veterans Blake Wheeler, Nick Bonino, Jonathan Quick, Riley Nash and Erik Gustafsson to low-cost short-term contracts, which produced mixed results. Quick and Gustafsson played well for New York, while Bonino, Wheeler and Nash had minimal impact and didn’t finish the year on the playoff roster. Given the low cost of acquiring the players, they were worth the gamble and, once again, provided Drury with some small wins.
However, in 2024, the wheels really began to come off for the Rangers shortly after they signed goaltender Igor Shesterkin to a record-breaking, $92MM, eight-year extension.
The deal came on the heels of the team trading captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks to create cap space to sign Shesterkin. Trading Trouba made a lot of sense given his high cap hit and minimal production in New York. He’d become a lightning rod for criticism, and it became apparent that the team wanted to get rid of him the prior summer, which they eventually did.
For whatever reason, that series of events appears to have fractured the Rangers’ dressing room, and they’ve never been the same since that fateful weekend in December 2024.
The team has fallen off considerably, and Drury has shown little direction, at times appearing to rely solely on gut instinct. This is, of course, the perspective of an outsider, but the results are what they are. This is a flawed hockey team that has always been flawed, even when it reached the conference finals. Shesterkin’s play masked many of the team’s shortcomings, and Drury overvalued his own roster as a result. Perhaps Drury can lead the Rangers back to contention, but given his work over the past five years, it doesn’t seem likely.
It’s tough to evaluate the last 12 months in a vacuum. Still, Drury has made some franchise-altering moves, including trading for J.T. Miller, moving Chris Kreider to Anaheim, trading K’Andre Miller to Carolina, and signing Vladislav Gavrikov. It’s tough to gauge how everything will work out, but Kreider is flirting with a 30-goal season in Anaheim, while Miller could set a career high in points with the Hurricanes. Miller and Gavrikov have struggled this year, leading to a negative early return on some significant moves Drury made.
Also, the strange Calvin de Haan situation from last spring raises questions about morale within the Rangers organization right now. You either sell winning or you sell hope, and right now the Rangers don’t have either to sell. Drury is locked in under a contract he signed less than a year ago, but given how things have worked out, the Rangers probably need to look elsewhere for someone who can build a championship roster.
Latest On New York Rangers, Alexis Lafreniere
As soon as the New York Rangers announced a retool to finish out the 2025-26 campaign, all eyes turned toward Artemi Panarin as a trade candidate leading up to the March 6th deadline. Still, outside of Panarin, there is another winger that the Rangers may move on from by the end of the season.
According to a recent article by Peter Baugh in The Athletic, there are indications that General Manager Chris Drury does not consider Alexis Lafrenière to be part of the team’s core moving forward. In fact, reports last week suggested that Drury met one-on-one with each of the team’s core players. Lafrenière told reporters on Monday that Drury never met with him individually.
If the Rangers seriously entertain offers for Lafrenière, and there’s no indication that they won’t, the major hurdle in any negotiation will be his contract. Lafrenière signed a seven-year, $52.15MM extension with New York last season, which began this year. Still, he doesn’t have any trade protection until the 2027-28 campaign. Even then, it’ll only be an eight-team no-trade list.
Fortunately for New York, as Baugh points out, the team has a recent trade comparable to Lafrenière. Last season, at the trade deadline, the Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres traded Dylan Cozens for Joshua Norris, a swap that has seemingly benefited both sides, provided Norris can stay healthy.
At the time, each player had six years remaining on their respective contracts, with Cozens earning $7.1MM and Norris earning $7.9MM. Unfortunately, there aren’t many younger players earning similar amounts to Lafrenière that would make sense for a trade. Pavel Buchnevich of the St. Louis Blues ($8MM through 2030-31) and Brock Boeser of the Vancouver Canucks ($7.25MM through 2031-32) make some sense as fellow struggling wingers. However, the Rangers would likely ask for more considering Lafrenière is a former first-overall pick.
Regardless, moving on from top-10 picks has become a trend for the Rangers in years past. Since the 2010 NHL Draft, New York has had five first-round picks fall within the top-10, and Lafrenière is the only one that remains.
Now in his sixth season, Lafrenière has not lived up to his draft billing. During the 2023-24 campaign, he appeared to be breaking out, scoring 28 goals and 57 points in 82 games, averaging 17:16 of ice time per night. He’s never been much of a defensive stalwart, though his possession metrics are typically above average.
Unfortunately, he hasn’t come close to reaching those totals. His output dropped to 17 goals and 45 points in 82 games last season, and he’s again pacing toward 45 points this year. The only thing that Lafrenière really has going for him is that he’s remained remarkably healthy throughout his career. At the time of writing, he has only missed four regular-season contests for the Rangers.
Still, if they don’t receive a beneficial offer for Lafrenière, the Rangers aren’t really in any rush. He won’t have trade protection in his contract next season, either, which could allow New York to push serious trade negotiations to the summer. Lafrenière projects as an asset that may be a later domino to fall in the Rangers’ retool.