Rangers’ Alexis Lafrenière out day-to-day with upper-body injury

The New York Rangers have announced that forward Alexis Lafrenière is out day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Lafrenière has three goals and three assists for six points in five games.

The 23-year-old is coming off a career-high season where he tallied 28 goals and 29 assists for 56 points in 82 games. Lafrenière added eight goals and 14 points in 16 Stanley Cup playoff contests.

It was a big jump in points production for Lafrenière who since his NHL debut in 2020-21 has consistently added 18 points to his stat sheet each year.

Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli hinted last week about a possible extension being in the works for Lafrenière to lock him up in the Big Apple long term. “I shared on Amazon last night that it’s 8 years at $8 million, it could be a shorter-term deal,” Seravalli stated on Daily Faceoff Live last week. “The tough part for the Ranger is managing the first two years of that deal due to other contracts they have on the cap. But given his growth, you won’t see him sign a deal with an AAV lower than $7 million.”

Lafrenière has appeared in 303 NHL games to date, scoring 78 goals and 76 assists for 154 points in that frame. He has added 23 points in 43 Stanley Cup playoff contests.

Lafrenière was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, and it took him some time to burst onto the scene and carve his name out. Lafrenière spent three years with the Rimouski Oceanic of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) where he captured the QMJHL and CHL Rookie of the Year award in 2017-18 and the CHL player of the Year in 2019-20. Throughout his QMJHL tenure, the St-Eustache, Quebec product tallied 297 points in 173 games.