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Let us start with this. Somebody they should not trade.
Lafreniere is going to be a name that gets mentioned a lot because he has not panned out as hoped as a No. 1 overall pick, is having a down year offensively, and could be the classic “change of scenery” player.
That does make some sense …. to a point.
But what exactly is his value going to be right now? It is not high. You do not want to trade talented, younger players at their lowest possible value because it is usually just not worth it. Not unless you are 150 percent convinced that player is never going to pan out. The Rangers should not be at that point with Lafreniere.
Lafreniere is not without talent. There is still something in there, and flashes of it come out from time to time. We last saw it at the Winter Classic, when he was one of the best players on the ice. It is just a matter of harnessing it and finding some sort of consistency with it. If you are the Rangers, a team that is severely lacking in young talent, and especially young offensive talent, you want him to figure that out with you and not somebody else.
His drop in production, as well as his salary cap hit of more than $7 million per season, is going to make it hard to get a significant return for him. If anything, you are going to be looking at another player in a similar position to him, and one that might not have the same sort of upside.
That is simply not worth it. Not right now. Let him try to figure it out on your team. It is not worth trading him for pennies on the dollar in a down year.