The trade watch is on in New York City especially after Rangers forward Alexis Lafrenière was a healthy scratch for last night’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Prior to that, head coach Gerard Gallant demoted Lafreniere to the fourth line, prompting many insiders in the Big Apple to report that both parties had reached a critical point in his development, leading to speculation that a change of scenery could be coming.
Hence, all the trade chatter!
The topic is getting so hot that it prompted Montreal Hockey Now to speculate that the Canadiens could seek to bring Lafrenière home by investigating what it could take to pull off a trade.
“If the Canadiens decide to explore trade options for Lafrenière, the cost will likely put a dent in their 2023 Draft plans by including a first-round pick (Florida).”
The aforementioned pick is the one the Canadiens landed in the transaction of defenseman Ben Chiarot last spring that sent him to the Panthers.
Montreal Hockey Now also hints at the fact that Jeff Gorton was serving as the Rangers’ general manager when they chose Lafrenière first overall in the 2020 NHL Draft.
There is a sense that the fanbase would dislike this potential trade seeing that Lafrenière has scored five goals and 12 assists in 37 games this season.
There’s no doubt that Lafreniere has had a disappointing NHL career to date, but I have no doubt that there will be plenty of interested suitors if he does indeed end up on the trade block.
And Montreal could be one of them.
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