For Alexis Lafreniere, the start of the 2024-25 season was an extension of last year. He scored a career-high 57 points in at least one of six of the first seven games.
He signed a seven-year contract, ensuring he remains a key part of Rangers' core for the future. There was plenty of continuity for the 23-year-old, skating alongside Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck.
Everything collided to create the opening act of a breakout season.
But since his four-goal-in-seven-game streak lasted until the start of his fifth NHL season, Lafreniere has scored just four goals in the past 17 games.
His struggles aren't isolated — the Rangers started to fall out of form and the top nine continued to struggle, leading head coach Peter Laviolette to shuffle his lines and mix things up, starting earlier this season. They were forced to deviate from what worked well in last year's Presidents Trophy — the winning group.
That ultimately included separating Lafreniere from the duo that helped stabilize his career.
However, during the three-day reset between games, Laviolette opted to keep Lafreniere surrounded by Trocheck and Panarin, and on Wednesday, extra Johnny Brodzinski replaced Panarin (maintenance). I skated.
He returned to what worked for Panarin. About what went well with Trocheck. Perhaps most importantly, given the background behind his trajectory, what worked for Lafreniere? The trio led the NHL's front lines last year with 54 goals and were the focal point of the Rangers' offense.
And while it might help the Rangers get out of their funk early in Friday's game against the Penguins, spending ice time with that unit instead of continuing to shuffle could also help Lafreniere improve on his early-season accomplishments. It may emerge as a formula for rediscovering.
“I think it’s possible,” Laviolette said of the line replicating its 2023-2024 success. “I think it's definitely possible. I mean, there are some lines in history that have played together for years and years and had success. So I think it's possible.
“But again, from a team standpoint, I think there’s another level, another gear that everyone has to get to, including that line.”
According to Natural Stat Trick, Lafreniere has skated alongside Panarin and Trocheck in 22 of the Rangers' 24 games this year and leads the Blueshirt pairing in minutes logged.
But after Laviolette tinkered with the rest of the unit, that tweak ultimately affected Lafreniere during Friday's loss to the Flyers. He started the next day against the Canadiens alongside Brett Berard and Trocheck, and in Monday's blowout loss to the Devils he started alongside Panarin and Filip Sitil.
These games extend a six-game scoreless streak, Lafreniere's longest such streak since early March, and if he doesn't get one game against Pittsburgh, it will be his longest scoreless period since January. Probably.
His early-season pace to break last year's career-high 28 goals suddenly fell below that goal. So when asked if leaving Lafrenière with Panarin and Trocheck would provide comfort that would lead to more goals, Laviolette simply replied: “I think they've proven that they have a history of success together, and yeah, I think so.”
For now, Lafreniere has a chance to prove Laviolette right, but it may be a fleeting chance.
General manager Chris Drury made it clear in a memo to other teams last month that the Rangers were open for business.
If the trade is executed, it could lead to further shuffling. The additions and readjustments aren't as obvious as the first-line right wing and third-line center needed in recent seasons with this core.
However, Laviolette insisted he believes a solution already exists within the Rangers' locker room. The group won last year. They also won earlier this year. Both of those examples involved a productive Lafreniere and by extension a productive Lafreniere, Panarin, Trocheck trio. So instead of continuing to shuffle, Laviolette returned to his original top nine from the beginning of this season.
“It was like that for a little while,” Laviolette said. “That didn't work out, so we changed things up, but I'd like to think that with a few days of practice and the guys working together, it could have some positive impact on the next game. ”
And in the Rangers' ideal scenario, central to that progress would be the return of Lafreniere's breakout season.
