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We’ve come back full circle, haven’t we, with head coach Gerard Gallant mentioning that he’d like to get Alexis Lafreniere back to left wing because that’s where No. 13 is more comfortable? Or was that just me listening to a recording from the start of the season and mislabeling it, “March 24?”
Nope, that was just Thursday. Gallant explained the move after Tuesday’s second period in which he shifted Lafreniere from right wing on the Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad unit to left wing on the fourth line with Dryden Hunt and Ryan Reaves.
The Blueshirts had just surrendered five goals to the Devils in the second period and were trailing 5-2. Gallant moved Andrew Copp into that right wing spot with Zibanejad and Kreider. Lafreniere did not get his first shift of the third period until 10:15, with the score 6-3.
“To be fair to Laffy, I know he likes playing left wing better than right wing, we’re trying some new, different people, so it’s not picking on Laffy, it’s not that at all,” Gallant said. “I wanted to put him back at left wing and make him feel more comfortable over there.
“He’s a 20-year-old kid, he’s played some good hockey, he’s put with some points for us, but with the new guys coming in you want to change the makeup a little bit. We’ll see where it goes.”
The Kreider-Zibanejad-Lafreniere unit had been intact for the better part of 20 games since it was formed on Jan. 28 for Henrik Lundqvist Night. The line had been on for 13 goals for and 10 against at five-on-best during that stretch with a nearly equivalent 52.79 xGF. Zibanejad led the team with 12 points (4-8) while Lafreniere was the runner-up with 10 (5-5) points. During that span of 20 games Lafreniere and Kreider tied for the club lead with five, five-on-five goals.
Gallant does not generally forecast his lineups or line combinations, but in Thursday’s prep for Friday night’s Garden match against the Penguins, Lafreniere skated on left wing on the third line with Filip Chytil at center and Barclay Goodrow on the right. Frank Vatrano played the right with Kreider and Zibanejad while Copp played right wing on the unit with Ryan Strome and Artemi Panarin.
There is a new top nine for the Blueshirts with 18 games left. There is going to be a fair amount of trial and error until Gallant is able to settle on at least a quasi-permanent approach. It’s not ideal to have a working roster that includes four healthy scratches per game, but there should be enough time for the coach and the club to sort this out.
It’s not like the days before 2005-06 when the deadline came just three-plus weeks before the season’s end. There were only 12 games remaining when the Islanders acquired Butch Goring from the Kings in 1980 in the most seminal deadline deal in NHL history. The club’s 8-0-4 record down the stretch didn’t quite foretell the history that would follow.
There was a new top nine for the Rangers and, in fact, a new third line. Because while Lafreniere had lined up 22 times previously with Chytil as his center, Sammy Blais had been the right wing for six of those games with Julien Gauthier in that spot the other 16 times.
Lafreniere always publicly downplays the degree of difficulty moving from his natural left side to the off-wing. Clearly the coach believes there is more to it than what meets the ear, or even perhaps the eye. Maybe the Rangers believe the off-season would represent a more fertile time for Lafreniere to make the switch.
Because, again, revisiting a scenario that has been obvious for months: If Lafreniere cannot accommodate a shift to the right side, then the 20-year-old, first-overall pick of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft is destined to be a third-line player for the foreseeable future behind Kreider and Panarin. That wouldn’t seem to be of anyone’s benefit.
And wait, there’s more. There are more. Left wingers coming, that is, with 2022 first-rounder Brennan Othmann and 2021 second-rounder Will Cuylle on their way. The Rangers don’t have any centers in the pipeline but left wingers, whoa boy. Fair and balanced? You decide.
Come the summer, general manager Chris Drury is going to have to address the big picture. For now though, the coach is going to day-to-day.
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