“We make him play with the two worst attackers”

Michel Bergeron sees a similarity between New York Rangers forwards Alexis Lafrenière and Montreal Canadiens rookie Juraj Slafkovsky.

For the former Quebec Nordiques driver, these first two overall picks are dealing with enormous pressure, possibly overwhelming, at this stage of their young career. Both on Broadway and in the Quebec metropolis.

See it in the video above.

“I watch the way we use them… (up to) the fourth line. I have the impression that we are impatient, he said sorry during the first intermission of Wednesday’s game between the Rangers and the Ottawa Senators, on TVA Sports. On occasion, last year, Lafrenière played with (Artemi) Panarin or (Mika) Zibanejad, but it never lasts long. As soon as he goes through a little slump of a few games, (he is relegated).

Bergeron believes Slafkovsky is going through a similar situation with the CH.

“We make him play with the two worst attackers, he insists about Michael Pezzetta and Jake Evans. Why not graduate him? First, it seems more or less important, the victory. We follow the process. Development.

“If we want to develop him, let him play with the best. We are always impatient. Worse at some point, we always come back to the question. Lafrenière, remember, we asked if we were returning him to his junior club or if we shouldn’t send him to the World Junior Championship. It’s the same with Slafkovsky.”

Photo credit: Photo Martin Chevalier

The veterans and the “showcase”

According to Bergeron, you have to give “a real chance” to young recruits to succeed, which the two aforementioned skaters do not get, according to him.

“The real luck is 10 or 15 games with athletes like (Sean) Monahan. Monahan, at the moment, is playing good hockey. We know that some veterans are on the market, but the veterans on the market, everyone knows them.

“We don’t need to put them in the window. Let us give the opportunity to these young people who were chosen first.

Lafrenière has only three goals – the same harvest as Slafkovsky – and 10 points since the start of the season. He has scored just two goals since Oct. 30 and most recently played on the third line to the left of Vincent Trocheck and Vitali Kravtsov.

“It looks like he is playing to protect his back. He tries not to be on the ice to make a mistake and not collect points, ”he concludes.