Laffy Taffy Deserves His Flowers

[calbearsfan]

Alexis Lafreniere has had his share of critics and doubters — myself among them — but the man deserves his credit where it’s due — and it’s definitely due after today’s performance.

Alexis Lafreniere — here are your flowers:

(everyone say something nice about him!)

[calbearsfan]

I’ll begin:

Alex Laffy playing like Alex Ovi today with the toe-drag goal while falling down!

[Giroux]

Nice goal in game 1

[Satan]

He's been getting more and more confident- good for him

[stoopid]

[Rangers are a team I follow]

Where's his ceiling? I think at this point he isn't MacKinnon or Matthews tier, so from a collecting standpoint there's not much room for growth especially considering how pumped his cards were a couple years ago.

If he can be a solid 2nd liner at 25-30 goals a season that would be a good career, even for a top pick. On average only one or two players from a draft class end up being elite. In other words -- they can't all be "best in the league".

As a quasi Rangers fan, I'm glad they have him and the way this season unfolded looks like this was his coming out party. Realistically there's plenty of players that catch a streak during the playoffs. It's a good time to do so. But if we're talking collectability, it's the worse time to be buying into those player's cards.

[OGColl]

As a Flyers fan, it's impossible for me to throw bouquets at any Stinkin' Ranger....

But his goal yesterday was a gem.

Also, he's the oldest looking 22-year-old I think I've ever seen.

[ShoutFan2020]

Laffy remembered which net the puck should go into.

From a ceiling standpoint, his trajectory right now looks like more of a "Briere test" to me. What's a "Briere test" you say? A "Briere test" is when you have a very good player who gets you 30g/60 pts a year for 6-7 years before tailing off or injuries take over. You are happy he is on your team for the 30g, but he never quite cracks the 100 point mark in a season. Briere ended up with 307 goals and 696 points in his career.

Now the bad news, nobody collects Danny Briere unless he threw you a puck one time at a game or something. Panarin cracked 120 points this season and look where his cards sit (a PSA 9 YG for $50, why thank you). So a Laffy 30/60 season won't amount to squat in the long run. As Laffy's RC hit during the pandemic boom, the expectations were pumped high so now the losses come.

[ThatGuyPal]

Originally Posted by ShoutFan2020

Laffy remembered which net the puck should go into.

From a ceiling standpoint, his trajectory right now looks like more of a "Briere test" to me. What's a "Briere test" you say? A "Briere test" is when you have a very good player who gets you 30g/60 pts a year for 6-7 years before tailing off or injuries take over. You are happy he is on your team for the 30g, but he never quite cracks the 100 point mark in a season. Briere ended up with 307 goals and 696 points in his career.

Now the bad news, nobody collects Danny Briere unless he threw you a puck one time at a game or something. Panarin cracked 120 points this season and look where his cards sit (a PSA 9 YG for $50, why thank you). So a Laffy 30/60 season won't amount to squat in the long run. As Laffy's RC hit during the pandemic boom, the expectations were pumped high so now the losses come.

This post made me laugh way more than it should

A "Briere Test" Lol

[rizzeedizzee]

He's showing his talent, no question. But Panarin has made a career out of getting the best out of his linemates. And there isn't really a path for Laffy to get on PP1, at least until Panarin might leave after 2025-26, at which point it might be a net-negative. And before you say that a player can thrive despite not being on PP1, take a look at the career stats of Nicolaj Ehlers.