Alexis Lafrenière (born 11.10.2001) is a Canadian ice hockey winger. Alexis Lafrenière was selected first overall by the New York Rangers in the 2020 NHL Draft.

Early Career

In his junior years Alexis Lafrenière was as good in baseball as in ice hockey, but he made his choice to concentrate more to ice hockey. in season 2016-17, Lafrenière made 83 points (33+50) in 36 games for St-Eustache of the Quebec Midget AAA league. Alexis Lafrenière was selected first overall in the 2017 QMJHL Draft by Rimouski Océanic. In his rookie season, Lafrenière played 60 games and made 80 (42+38) points. 42 goals were the most goals scored by a rookie since Sydney Crosby (54 goals in 2004). Lafrenière was awarded the RDS Cup as a QMJHL rookie of the year and he was also named to the First All-Star team of QMJHL. In season 2018-19, Lafrenière played 61 games with Rimouski Océanic and made 105 (37+68) points in regular season. In the President’s Cup Playoffs, Rimouski reached Semi-finals, but lost to Rouyn-Noranda 4-0 – Lafrenière played 13 playoff games and made 23 (9+14) points.

Season 2019-20 was shortened in QMJHL due to Covid-19 pandemic. Before the QMJHL season was stopped, Lafrenière led the league in scoring with 112 (35+77) points in 52 games.

Lafrenière was considered the consensus first overall pick for the 2020 NHL Draft and the New York Rangers used their first ever first overall pick to draft Alexis Lafrenière on 10.6.2020.

International Play

Alexis Lafrenière was selected for Team Canada’s U18 team at the 2018 IIHF World U18 Championships. He was the youngest player of the team at the age of 16. Lafrenière played 2018 and 2019 in the IIHF World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. In the 2019 Championships, Alexis Lafrenière was injured in Team Canada’s second game against Russia, but managed to bounce back to the quarterfinals. Team Canada finally won a gold medal after 4-3 win against Russia in the final. Lafrenière played 5 games and made 10 (4+6) points, he was also named as the tournament’s most valuable player (MVP).