TARRYTOWN — Training camp has officially opened for the New York Rangers for the first time with Peter Laviolette at the helm. Now, a team full of top talent and veteran savviness must come together to try and find a way to begin the road to a Stanley Cup Title.
Part of Laviolette’s job, at least to start, is finding the right combination for the everyday lineup to be a difficult matchup for any team the Rangers are to face in the 2023-24 season.
“There’s a lot of talent and there’s a lot of skill on this team,” Laviolette said Wednesday. “I’ve never wanted to be only a skilled team and I’ve never wanted to be just a hard-working team. We need to combine the two and get them on the same page.”
A Position Change for Alexis Lafreniere
One of the biggest questions surrounding Laviolette’s tenure will be figuring out how to mesh some of the Rangers’ top young talent with the veteran presence solidly planted within each line. Alexis Lafreniere, fresh off a new RFA contract, is one of those young players.
While Lafreniere’s main talent is on the left side, the Rangers’ new coach has made it clear that a position change is in the works to start to increase the former first-overall pick’s playtime.
“I did have conversations with him. It’s not like I did it blindly, I had conversations with him about playing the offside,” Laviolette explained. “He expressed to me that he’s comfortable with that and looks forward to that opportunity. I’m looking forward to giving it to him to see what he can do. Again, that doesn’t mean that you’re not going to see him on the left side in camp, either.”
Before the latest break from the head coach, Lafreniere had made it clear in years past that he would prefer to play on his dominant side. With Artemi Panarin and Chris Kreider still entrenched in the top units, the best chance for Lafreniere to get an increase in time will be to play on his off-side.
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