Alexis Lafreniere is set to continue his Rangers career after signing a two-year, $4.65 million deal on Wednesday, The Post has learned.
The Rangers’ 2020 first-overall pick is the last restricted free agent the club had to sign, officially bringing their in-house offseason business to a close with just under a month to go until training camp.
It became clear that no other team planned to offer-sheet Lafreniere, so there was no real sense of urgency to get a deal done.
As a result, negotiations came together a bit later in the offseason.
After president and general manager Chris Drury took care of a majority of the Rangers’ needs shortly after the free agency window opened back in July, as well as re-signed restricted free agent defenseman K’Andre Miller, the term and price range of Lafreniere’s contract were pretty obvious due to the organization’s cap situation.
There was never going to be much room for negotiation, especially since Drury had to sign so many low-cost one-year and two-year deals to remain cap-compliant.
Lafreniere is entering his fourth NHL season and still looking for that breakout performance to satisfy all the hype that has surrounded him since he was drafted.
Since his NHL debut three years ago, Lafreniere is ranked third on the Rangers in even-strength goals with 47, behind only Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider.
His point total has steadily increased from year to year, but the numbers still aren’t living up to what was expected.
The 21-year-old is coming off a career year, in which he scored 16 goals and dished 23 assists in 81 games.
In the Rangers’ seven-game loss to the Devils in playoffs, however, Lafreniere didn’t register a single point.
This past season was also Lafreniere’s first that wasn’t impacted in some way by the coronavirus pandemic.
In total, Lafreniere has 91 points (47 goals, 44 assists) in 216 career NHL games so far.
The logjam of highly-skilled forwards in the Rangers’ top six and on the two power play units has served as a major roadblock for Lafreniere, who has not seen nearly as much ice time as most first-overall picks.
There have been opportunities, but a good portion of them have come on his offside on the right wing.
Lafreniere has consistently maintained that he’s comfortable with playing both sides, but former head coach Gerard Gallant preferred to keep No. 13 at his natural position.
That could and should change under new bench boss Peter Laviolette.
Lafreniere’s path to increased minutes is on the right wing of either of the top two lines, as well as the second power-play unit.
Laviolette said in his introductory press conference that Lafreniere, as well as Kaapo Kakko, need opportunities to grow and feel counted on, but nothing will be given.
Lafreniere is still going through a developmental curve in the NHL, a league that demands elite skating and relentless conditioning in order to compete.
There is some work to do in those areas for Lafreniere.