Rangers' Alexis Lafreniere hasn't lived up to expectations as a former No. 1 pick

SAN JOSE, Calif. — There’s no secret fraternity for NHL No. 1 overall draft picks in which they get together once a year to compare notes. And Alexis Lafreniere doesn’t know Macklin Celebrini.

“Not really, no,’’ Lafreniere told Newsday after the Rangers’ morning skate Friday before their late game against Celebrini and the San Jose Sharks at the SAP Center. “I mean, I watch him play. Great player, [but] I don’t really know him. I never really talked to him.’’

Celebrini, 19, is in his second year in the NHL after becoming the No. 1 overall pick in 2024. Entering Friday, he led the Sharks in scoring with 24 goals and 72 points, more than double the 34 points recorded by the team’s second-leading scorer, Alexander Wennberg. He will represent Canada in next month’s Olympic Games in Italy.

Lafreniere, 24, the No. 1 overall pick in 2020, is in the midst of another just OK season — 10 goals and 28 points in 51 games entering Friday. That projects to 16 goals and 45 points in a full 82-game season. It’s right around his 82-game averages of 19 goals and 42 points, and not bad for a second-line winger on a bottom-half team, but it’s well below what was expected of him.

Coming out of junior hockey in Canada, he was supposed to be a generational player, but he certainly hasn’t been that. He’s been OK, a young player who was able to contribute, but as the No. 1 overall pick, he was expected to be an instant star, as Celebrini has been with the Sharks.

“What he’s accomplished at his age is impressive,’’ Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said of Celebrini. “I made the comment [Thursday] that he reminds me of a young Sidney Crosby [who played for Sullivan in Pittsburgh], and it’s the ultimate compliment. And I don’t throw that compliment lightly. That’s a bold statement that I made, but I’m being honest.’’

Lafreniere was supposed to be the next Crosby. He played for the same junior team as Crosby, Rimouski of the Quebec and Maritimes Junior Hockey League (formerly the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League), and he was the second player after Crosby to twice be named the Canadian Hockey League Player of the Year and QMJHL MVP.

But that’s where any similarities with Crosby end.

Lafreniere said he doesn’t compare himself to Celebrini or to other recent No. 1 picks such as Chicago’s Connor Bedard, New Jersey’s Jack Hughes or the Islanders’ Matthew Schaefer.

“Not really,’’ he said. “They’ve been unreal. So I still have to work on my game. Get better.’’

With the Rangers now in “retool’’ mode, as general manager Chris Drury indicated in his message to the fans a week ago, there’s been plenty of speculation about which Rangers are going to be traded before the NHL’s March 6 trade deadline. Lafreniere, who is in the first year of a seven-year contract that carries an average annual value of $7.45 million, is one whose name has been thrown out there as potentially available.

It would seem to go against the grain for a self-described retooling team that is trying to get younger to trade a 24-year-old former No. 1 overall pick who had 102 goals in 431 (out of a possible 434) games in his six-year career. But the Rangers might want to move on — as they did last season with former No. 2 overall pick Kaapo Kakko — if they can get a palatable return for him. Lafreniere might do well with a change of scenery, too.

Lafreniere, from suburban Montreal, said he likes being on the Rangers and added that he isn’t worried about being traded.

Is he not worried because he doesn’t think he’ll be dealt or because he’d be OK with it?

“I mean, you never know what can happen, really,’’ he said, dodging the question. “But I’m here, and I like being here, and we have a great group. So yeah, I don’t worry about it. I’m just trying to play, and whatever happens happens.’’

If he isn’t traded, Lafreniere was asked what he wants to accomplish in the final 30 games (after Friday).

“Just a little more consistency,’’ he said. “I’ve had some good games and some bad games. So I think you’ve got to try to stack more good games in a row, play a little bit more consistent. That’d be my bigger thing.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

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.