The National Hockey League season is in full swing, as just about every team in the league has played at least one game as of Friday, October 2.
The trade rumors are swirling loudly, and while the season may need to play out a bit further before final decisions can be made about players, that hasn’t stopped the speculation from happening.
In a recent rumors piece for Bleacher Report, writer Lyle Richardson curated a big board of NHL trade candidates, and a New York Rangers forward, Alexis Lafreniere, is featured.
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Alexis Lafreniere Once Again Subject of Trade Rumors
Once again, Rangers’ forward Alexis Lafreniere finds himself as the subject of trade rumors.
Richardson recently listed Lafreniere on his top-15 big board of trade candidates:
“As the retooling Rangers embark on the 2026-27 season, Lafrenière has resurfaced in the rumor mill. On Sept. 4, Ryan Lambert of The Hockey News included the 24-year-old winger on his list of players who could be traded if their clubs got off to a slow start. The Fourth Period’s Dave Pagnotta echoed that sentiment during a Sept. 22 appearance on Daily Faceoff’s Morning Cuppa Hockey podcast. He felt Lafrenière could be among the high-profile Rangers who could appear in trade chatter if they stumbled through the opening weeks of this season.”
It is still early on in the season, so the Rangers certainly aren’t going to move on from their forward with a $7+ million cap hit tomorrow or anything, but if the Rangers struggle in the Metro (which is somewhat expected) in the early going, the Alexis Lafrenière speculation will grow loudly.
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Alexis Lafreniere Has Been an Underwhelming New York Rangers Forward
The New York Rangers are still hoping that Alexis Lafreniere can find some more consistency on the offensive attack.
They drafted him with the first overall pick in 2020, and across seven NHL seasons, Lafreniere has 250 total points in 450+ games (116 goals, 134 assists).
No doubt, he has been a productive player. However, the Rangers need more, and if the front office determines that his $52.15 million contract might be a waste, they might try to dump him to a team that would better welcome his services.
Lafrieniere carried a lot of trade speculation a season ago, and one could expect that to continue in the 2026-27 campaign.
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