Rangers, Alexis Lafrenière agree to two-year deal
Rangers left wing Alexis Lafrenière sets before a faceoff aWinnipeg Jets in the third period of an NHL hockey game at Madison Square Garden on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
It took a while longer than most people expected, but the Rangers' roster is finally complete now, after general manager Chris Drury wrapped up his summer to-do list on Thursday when the team announced it had agreed with forward Alexis Lafrenière, the last remaining restricted free agent on the roster, to a two-year contract extension.
According to multiple reports Wednesday, the deal carries an average annual value of $2.325M, and when it expires, in the summer of 2025, Lafrenière, 21, will still be a restricted free agent.
Lafrenière’s agreement comes more than a month after the team signed RFA defenseman K’Andre Miller to a two-year deal on July 11. When that happened, most thought Lafrenière would sign soon after. Miller’s team-friendly deal, which averaged $3.872 million, had left the Rangers with just over $3 million remaining under the NHL’s $83.5 million salary cap for the upcoming season. That seemed like plenty of room to fit Lafrenière, who always figured to get an average salary in the neighborhood of what his Kid Line linemates, Filip Chytil ($2.3 million average on a two-year deal signed in 2021) and Kaapo Kakko ($2.1 million average on a two-year deal signed in 2022), got in each of the last two summers.
Why it took so long to get the deal done is open to speculation. Some believe perhaps Lafrenière’s agent, Olivier Fortier, was hoping another team — like perhaps his hometown Montreal Canadiens — might sign the No. 1 overall pick in 2020 to an offer sheet. Perhaps Lafrenière was concerned about what his role might be under new coach Peter Laviolette.
Lafrenière, who has mostly played on the third line in his three NHL seasons, had 16 goals and 23 assists and was a plus-10 in 81 games in 2022-23. His 39 points were a career-high, but he didn't register a point in the Rangers' seven-game loss to the Devils in the first round of the playoffs.
When then-coach Gerard Gallant scratched him for a game against the Lightning in Tampa Bay on Dec. 29, there was speculation on social media that perhaps the Rangers might be willing to trade Lafrenière. And just before the opening of the July 1 free-agent signing period, there was a report that Drury had been “quietly shopping’’ the Quebec native before the start of the signing period. Drury, however, denied offering Lafrenière around the league.
“There could be nothing further from the truth,’’ Drury told reporters on a July 1 Zoom call. “I have never talked to one GM about Alexis. He's a really good young player that we think . . . his best days are certainly ahead of him. We're thrilled he's part of our team, and hope he's a Ranger for a long, long time.’’
At the Rangers’ breakup day, following their first-round playoff exit, Lafrenière admitted he was thinking about his potential new contract.
“A little bit,’’ he said. “Obviously, I want to be back here, so hopefully we get something done soon.’’
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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