Media Bytes: Lafrenière, Panarin, Trocheck, Team USA

Welcome to Media Bytes, a new weekly column from Blueshirt Banter. Every Sunday, we’ll help you start the week right with a quick catch-up on the latest stories and developments around the New York Rangers and the broader NHL media landscape.

Live, Laf, Loathe

1. Alexis Lafrenière, come on down—you're the next contestant on The Price of Underperforming in New York! Lafrenière has struggled out of the gate this year with just one goal and four points through his first 12 games while tying Mika Zibanejad with a team-worst minus-8 rating and the wolves have begun to circle.

Greg Kaplan and Ryan Mead of Blueshirts Breakaway did not hold back on Lafrenière on the Tuesday episode of their podcast. "The reason Lafrenière was taken first overall was his ability to run an offense ... and his outstanding hockey IQ," said Mead during the show. "His hockey IQ has not shown to be outstanding at the NHL level. It's shown to be less than average."

Kaplan went much further in his critique, suggesting that the Rangers begin trade explorations as soon as possible. "If you let this season play out and roll the dice and [Lafrenière] never turns it around, he is now a post-hype, former first overall pick, firmly in the bust category ... making north of $7 million dollars," he said. "You ain't getting anything for him [in that scenario]."

Colin Stephenson of Newsday, who was interviewed during the episode, later added that expectations of the 24-year-old need to be adjusted:

2. Over at The Athletic, Vince Mercogliano sees more of a silver lining with Lafrenière. In his column on Tuesday, while admitting that Lafrenière has struggled to produce, Mercogliano added that a "look under the hood" shows "an impact that's better than the general perception suggests."

"The 24-year-old’s 60.29 percent xGF is best on the team, according to Natural Stat Trick, with New York holding a decisive 34-14 edge in high-danger chances at five-on-five," Mercogliano said. "It needs to result in better production, but the Rangers typically have the advantage while Lafrenière is on the ice."

Combine this with his career low shooting percentage of 3.3%—a greater than 70% drop off his career average of 13.1%—and perhaps there are reasons to believe. But no number of appeals to underlying numbers can make up for such pedestrian production. If Lafrenière wants the wolves off his heels, the puck simply must find its way to the back of the net more often.

It's a Fox Hunt!

3. The thought of Adam Fox not wearing red, white, and blue next winter in Milan feels less like a roster debate and more like a hockey crime in progress. Yet earlier this week, TSN’s Craig Button told Frank Seravalli on the Frankly Hockey podcast that not only should Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson make the roster instead of Fox, but that Fox “shouldn’t even be a candidate.”

Should Fox not make Team USA, it wouldn't just be a testament to his shortcomings, but to a golden age of American defensemen. Silver lining if you're an American; agony, if you're also a Rangers' fan.

A Russian Storm Rising?

4. Panarin was persistently mentioned as a trade candidate last week and this week is no different. This time, Frank Seravalli is wondering out loud if the Rangers "continue to hover at the very bottom of the standings," if the Carolina Hurricanes could be a fit for the Russian superstar.

Whether Carolina is a fit or not, Panarin is a pending UFA who's apparent desire for term is reportedly at odds with the Rangers' plans this early in the year. That alone will likely continue to fuel trade speculation all year.

Pierre LeBrun noted on Friday that he doesn't think Panarin will be open to a short-term deal, which he also reports "would probably be the Rangers' preference." Elliotte Friedman also said during the latest episode of 32 Thoughts that Panarin "is going to go for the biggest deal he can get." He also said that Panarin and Buffalo's Alex Tuch "can afford to sit back and wait," and that the decision whether to re-sign either player is now "firmly in the hands of the team[s]."

5. Panarin and Lafrenière aren't the only two Rangers' players churning through the early rumor mill. According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, defenseman Braden Schneider is "another guy that a lot of teams were poking around on."

At face value, it makes a ton of sense that teams would be interested in the 24-year-old. Despite marginal year-over-year performance improvements as a Rangers' defenseman, he has the size, skating ability, and flashes of snarl that NHL GMs covet. At the same time, Schneider has seemingly been locked into a third-pairing right side role since the inception of his Rangers career—an issue exacerbated by the acquisition and subsequent long-term extension of fellow RD, Will Borgen.

At the start of the month, head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters that the Rangers "believe that [Schneider] is amongst the top four," defenders on the team, but immediately couched the statement by noting "that doesn't mean he has to play in the top four." He also openly toyed with the idea of moving Schneider to the left side to give him an increased role, but that's something that's yet to be tried this season.

Whether or not Schneider is okay with this arrangement is unknown, but this is the type of scenario that NHL GMs are wont to exploit if they believe the player has untapped potential and is being blocked from that opportunity with his current club.

Hope on the Horizon?

6. Its no secret the Rangers' offense has struggled mightily out of the gate this year. Ahead of playing Seattle on Saturday night, the club was tied with the Nashville Predators for the second-worst goals for per games played (2.33) in the league. But hope could be on the horizon. On the latest episode of The Flying V podcast, Vince Mercogliano noted that Vincent Trocheck—who has been out with an upper-body injury and was placed on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) earlier this month—is "getting pretty close" to a return.

Mercogliano speculated that he thinks a return "in the next week or so," is "on the table," though he was careful not to provide an exact date. As per the NHL's rules regarding LTIR, Trocheck is eligible to return as early as Nov. 4 against the Carolina Hurricanes—his old team.

7. Speaking of Trocheck, Cam Robinson noted on Thursday morning that according to sources around the league, "this is the best market in years for anyone dangling a top-six [center]."

I fully understand, given the state of this team and its aging core of impact players why one's first instinct might be to trade Trocheck and capitalize on this opportunity. I also recognize the demonstrable and repeatable age-related evidence to support such a line of thinking. But I also can't help but feel that doing so would be incredibly dangerous for the Rangers right now. Heavy emphasis on right now.

Take a step back for a moment and recognize that we're about a year removed since the infamous memo that was made public last November. Try to remember what the near immediate impact of that decision was. The result of that "leak" that placed proverbial crosshairs on the foreheads of Jacob Trouba and Chris Kreider was catastrophic. A direct line can be drawn between that report going public and the ensuing tailspin that was the month of December in which the Blueshirts went 3–10–0 after a 6-2-1 October start. They never recovered.

In the wake of that disastrous season, and the multiple franchise-altering trades that took place throughout it, Trocheck emerged as a de facto team captain. He helped to stabilize a faltered and fragile team and was heavily considered for the captaincy coming into this season as a result. As lucrative as this market might appear to be, it's difficult to properly put into words how dangerous it would be for GM Chris Drury to risk breaking this team for a second time in such a similar manner by so quickly trading away a clear locker room leader and stabilizing voice. Especially one who was instrumental in recruiting his best friend and current team captain, J.T. Miller, back to New York in the first place.

If this season keeps slipping away, the Rangers may not be able to pass up this market opportunity. But this should be a decision for much closer to the trade deadline, not today. It also feels like the type of move that demands an extreme level of tact, goodwill, and precision, and I'm not convinced Chris Drury has those tools in his kit.

If the memo taught us anything, it’s this: these are human beings, not just entries on a cap sheet. You can talk all day about aging curves, scoring rates, or roster construction, but none of that erases the human factor—and of all people, Chris Drury should know that better than most.