With the preseason underway, the New York Rangers have been experimenting with line combinations created by head coach Peter Laviolette throughout the week’s practices. One of the major storylines throughout the 2023 offseason has been determining what roles both Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko will fill this upcoming season, especially due to the departure of both Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane.
It was heavily theorized throughout the summer that Kakko would be playing on the first line in 2023-24, but training camp has shown other possibilities as well.
Lafreniere is continuously receiving time on the Rangers’ first-line
During the first practice of training camp, Lafreniere was slotted alongside Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad as the first-line right wing.