Alexis Lafreniere finally looks like the highlight-reel top pick Rangers envisioned
NY Post
When Alexis Lafreniere made the jump from the Saint-Eustache Vikings of Quebec’s U18 development league to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Rimouski Oceanic, the then-15-year-old was living away from home for the first time.
After putting up 83 points in 36 games in the QMAAA in 2016-17, Lafreniere posted 80 points in 60 games in his rookie season in the QMJHL.
The statistic speaks for itself, revealing that Lafreniere didn’t need much of an on-ice adjustment period despite a drastic life change.
One look at any highlight package from Lafreniere’s QMJHL days, and it is apparent that the Quebec native played with so much certainty in himself.
That is the Lafreniere who took the ice Opening Night in Pittsburgh, where the newly turned 23-year-old showed off the high-end skill that got him drafted first overall in 2020 and began to come through on a nightly basis during his breakout campaign last season.
So is he making these moves now because he’s gained enough confidence to do so, or has he figured out how to translate that part of his game at the NHL level?
Michael Pittman Jr. has a gut feeling.
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Almost a year to the day after a goaltender interference call against Kyle Palmieri lost the Islanders a game against the Blue Jackets that started their season’s death spiral, they were on the wrong end of another controversial call against those same Blue Jackets that might have had the same effect.
On the Queens side of town, the reno began in earnest almost as soon as Francisco Lindor grounded into the 4-6-3 double play. That ended a 4-0 loss before a rare sizable crowd at Miami’s loanDepot Park last Sept. 27, all of them there to witness the final death rattles of an epic baseball calamity.
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Next comes the harder part. Mostly because it can’t get any easier.
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PORT ST. LUCIE — From the moment he was told he needed surgery on his left hamate bone, Francisco Lindor fixated on the recovery time. Trainers provided the Mets shortstop a six-week pathway to return to play, and Lindor was determined to hit every marker.
Dylan Garand knew the number off the top of his head. He knew that, between the regular season and playoffs, he’d logged over 160 games with AHL Hartford, and he was right. Before the Rangers recalled him Friday, Garand had served as the Wolf Pack’s goaltender 165 times.