The New York Rangers haven't slammed the door on the idea of extending Alexis Lafreniere

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Joshua Deeds
October 23, 2024 (5:43 PM)

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The New York Rangers will have a busy offseason, as they will have plenty of players to sign including RFA's like Alexis Lafreniere.

Of course, they will have to prioritize players as they see fit which means, including Igor Shesterkin. He's an important member of the New York Rangers, core and so is Lafreniere.

So when will they start discussing an extension past his UFA year, in 2027?

According to Pierre LeBrun, the team and Lafreniere weren't able to extend him prior to the beginning of the 2024-2025 season. But a trade may not be out of the question for him.

There have been contract talks going back to before the season between Alexis Lafreniere and his agent and the Rangers... Those talks have not produced an extension, (though) both sides were motivated to see if they could get it done before the season but they couldn't.

But the door has not been slammed shut on continuing the conversation. I think it will be ongoing. Whether it gets done during the season remains to be seen, but the Rangers obviously view Lafreniere... as a massively important core piece that they want to sign long-term.

The Former 1st overall pick in 2020 will be finishing up his bridge deal at the end of the 2024-2025 season, which currently pays him $2.325 million AAV.

Could Lafreniere be traded during the season instead of extended?

The Rangers will lose out on his production which saw him post 28 goals and 57 points last season.

Not only that but they will lose the chemistry built between himself, Vinnie Troecheck, and Artemi Panarin on the 1st line.

In 82 games last season, he had a career-high TOI of 17:16 in addition to his career-highs in goals and points.

Lafreniere had only started to show the brilliance of what led the Rangers to pick him 1st overall in 2020 and had been scoring at an underwhelming clip prior to 2023-2024.

The last three seasons saw him score only 30 points, with 16 goals per season. But wherever he lands next will see him net a nice pay raise, after this seems like another case of GM Chris Drury fumbling a huge talent.

Will the Rangers trade Lafreniere by the trade deadline?