The most intriguing players in the Metro Division - Part 2

The Rangers, Flyers, Penguins, and Capitals are covered in the second and final part of this mini-series.

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I started a mini-series Thursday highlighting the most intriguing players on each Metro team for the upcoming season.

The Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Islanders and, of course, New Jersey Devils were covered in the first edition.

Now for the best of the rest.

New York Rangers: Alexis Lafreniere

Lafreniere is already heading into his 6th NHL season.

He has shown flashes but the production certainly hasn’t matched his draft slot. He has one 20 goal campaign to his credit and only topped 45 points once.

While he’s still young, and has time to take another step or two, the clock is ticking on him turning into a legitimate difference maker.

The Rangers desperately need him to become one. The majority of their best players are getting up there in age and soon to noticeably decline, if not already doing so.

Not to mention, Artemi Panarin turns 34 in October and is in need of a new contract he’ll likely struggle to live up to.

The window to contend appears to have closed on the current core and the Rangers don’t have a lot of pieces capable of driving the bus on the next version of this team.

Lafreniere showing he could be one of those guys would be a huge positive for them.

Philadelphia Flyers: Matvei Michkov