Alexis Lafrenieres continued emergence key to Rangers 2024-2025 season

Of all the problems for an NHL team to have at the start of training camp, a burgeoning player needing more opportunities is one any would like to have. Such is a headlining matter for Alexis Lafreniere and the New York Rangers as they prepare for their first official on-ice session of the preseason on Thursday at MSG Training Center.It’s one that has taken shape quickly since the second half of last season, when Lafreniere was one of the team’s most consistent skaters after his game finally clicked at the NHL level. Head coach Peter Laviolette acknowledged Lafreniere’s breakout campaign, but as for exploring an expanded role for the 22-year-old wing, he said that’s what training camp is for. “There’s definitely a confidence that you see with him in his game, and then watching it build all year into the playoffs,” Laviolette said in his pre-camp news conference with reporters on Wednesday.

“He had a very good year.What you’d like to see from a young player, or from a team, is to continue to push every day to find ways to be better.

To find ways to do more than you did before.Doesn’t always work that way.

But with regard to a team, with regard to a player, you want to see people continue to take the next step. “He certainly had a strong year that seemed to get better and stronger and more confident as the year went on.We’d like to see him take steps from there.” The late-blooming 2020 first-overall pick saw his average ice time jump from 15:13 to 17:16 last season while skating on one of the most high-profile lines in the league with Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck. Setting career highs in several categories at the conclusion of the regular season, posting 28 goals and 29 assists, Lafreniere only upped his game in the postseason.

The eight goals he scored and six assists he dished in 16 playoff contests were crucial, but it was the repeated impact he was able to make on a game-to-game basis that was most impressive Laviolette ...