Rangers take Lafreniere with No. 1 pick
The New York Rangers selected Canadian forward Alexis Lafreniere with the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft on Tuesday night.
Lafreniere was the NHL Central Scouting Bureau’s top-ranked North American skater. He becomes the first Canadian to go No. 1 since Connor McDavid was chosen by Edmonton in 2015.
From suburban Montreal, the 6-foot-1 playmaking left wing was the first to earn both Canadian Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League MVP honors in consecutive seasons since Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby in 2004 and ‘05, when he also played for the Oceanic.
Lafreniere joins a young, developing Rangers team that features one of his favorite players, Hart Trophy finalist Artemi Panarin. The Rangers also have up-and-coming youngsters such as Kaapo Kakko, the No. 2 pick in last year’s draft, and defenseman Adam Fox, who finished fourth in the rookie of the year voting this season.
New York landed the No. 1 pick for the first time since the NHL established the universal draft in 1969. The Rangers bucked the odds by jumping ahead of the NHL’s seven non-playoff teams to win the draft lottery after being swept in three games by Carolina in the preliminary round in August.
They became the first NHL team to select first following a postseason appearance since the thenMinnesota North Stars in 1983, who acquired the No. 1 selection in a trade with Pittsburgh.
The Los Angeles Kings then selected Ontario Hockey League center Quinton Byfield with the second pick. The 6-foot-4 Byfield, whose father moved to Canada from Jamaica, became the highest drafted Black player.
The Ottawa Senators were next and chose topranked international forward Tim Stuetzle, who played professionally in his native Germany last
year, with their first of three first-round selections.
The Detroit Red Wings, who were bumped to the fourth spot despite finishing with the league’s worst record, drafted Swedish forward Lucas Raymond. A little over an hour before the draft, the Red Wings announced general manager Steve Yzerman had to self-isolate in overseeing the draft separate from his staff after coming into contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19.
The draft was held remotely, with teams making selections from their home cities. Commissioner Gary Bettman introduced each
team making a first-round selection from a podium at the NHL Network studios in New Jersey.
The two-day event was originally scheduled to be held in Montreal in June, but it was pushed back like the rest of the NHL calendar due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The league paused its season in mid-March before resuming in August by going directly to the postseason, which ended last week with the Tampa Bay Lightning winning their second Stanley Cup title by defeating the Dallas Stars in six games.
The lengthy delay ended a long wait for Lafreniere, who had been looking forward to taking the stage and hearing his name announced in his hometown. He instead settled for being with his parents and sister at their home a half-hour outside of Montreal.
Upon hearing Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton announce the selection, Lafreniere rose from his living room chair, handed his sister his sport coat and the pulled on a Rangers hat and No. 20 jersey.
Lafreniere scored 35 goals and led the QMJHL with 77 assists and 112 points last season. He became the first Quebecborn player to be selected first since Pittsburgh chose goalie Marc-Andre Fleury in 2003, and the first skater from the province to go first since 1998, when Tampa Bay drafted Vincent Lecavalier, who also played for Rimouski.
The draft concludes Wednesday with rounds second through seven, before teams turn their attention to the NHL’s free agency signing period, which opens Friday.
Teams have already been active in reshaping their rosters and freeing space under the $81.5 million salary cap, which is unchanged from last season and expected to stay fixed for at least another year due to the financial losses resulting from coronavirus.
Detroit forward Justin Abdelkader and Montreal defenseman Karl Alzner were placed on unconditional waivers for the purpose of buying out the remainder of their contracts earlier in the day. The Canadiens also traded center Max Domi and a third-round draft pick to Columbus for forward Josh Anderson.