The Rangers are going to hand the reins of the team to their young core in the coming years. Alexis Lafreniere is possibly the biggest non-Adam Fox piece in that transition. The #1 overall pick is tremendously skilled and could be a top winger in the game. The problem is he hasn’t taken a step forward, and many of his easily identified deficiencies haven’t been improved upon. Only more ice time has led to an increase in his scoring stats as well.
Expectations on Lafreniere weren’t fair to start, but that is mostly because of the excitement of the first ever top pick in organizational history.