VANCOUVER — Don Hay didn’t know much about Alexis Lafreniere prior to meeting the teen at Hockey Canada’s Under-18 selection camp last spring.
Lafreniere, fresh off a rookie season with the Rimouski Oceanic where he scored a team-leading 42 goals and 80 points in 60 games, quickly made an impression on the veteran WHL coach.
“I liked how competitive he was,” Hay said. “He really wanted the puck in all situations. He wanted the puck and he wanted to make a difference. He’s competitive, he’s a good skater, he’s got great hockey sense, so those are really good tangibles to have.”
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Lafreniere finished the Under-18 tournament with four goals and two assists in five games as the youngest player on Team Canada at just 16.
He then captained Team Canada at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, leading the way with 11 points in five games as the Canadians won gold.
“Every experience is big. I think U-18s helped me a lot with my game and I'm trying to bring it here,” Lafreniere said. “Every time I wear Canada’s jersey, it’s a big honor so I try to bring every experience on the ice.”
Hay, who has coached Canada at both the 1995 and 2012 World Juniors and the 2013 and 2018 Under-18s, has seen his share of special talent come through the national program at a young age.
“I think that the talented kids like (Lafreniere) and Connor McDavid, when I was coaching the Under-18s in 2013, they just seem to belong with that group,” Hay continued. “They just carry themselves, they’ve had success by being younger and they really fit in well with the older groups that they get put in to.”
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Lafreniere also left an impression on many of his older teammates, including New Jersey Devils prospect Ty Smith.
“He’s got a ton of skill. It doesn’t matter that he’s a younger guy, he fits right in and plays hard,” said Smith, who is part of the Canadian World Junior blue line. “It’s really impressive. I mean, 17-year-olds don’t really play for Canada; only if it’s a special case. He’s a special player.”
Known as "Laffy" to his teammates, the 2018 CHL rookie of the year is Canada's youngest member at the 2019 World Juniors and the ninth-youngest forward ever to represent the country in the tournament. He also has a reputation as a bit of a jokester around the room.
“He’s a pretty outgoing character. He loves to have fun, the guy is really loose in the room,” Smith said. “He’s a good guy. I guess he gels well with other guys and he loves to have fun and work hard.”
Lafreniere, the early favorite to be the top selection at the 2020 NHL Draft, is being challenged to round out the defensive side of his game.
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Lafreniere’s play without the puck has been an issue dating back to his days in midget hockey.
Now Canadian coach Tim Hunter is pushing the 17-year-old to be better without the puck.
“It’s 14-0 and I wasn’t pleased with the way he was playing,” Hunter said of Canada’s tournament opener against Denmark. “It’s typical of young guys. They think it’s about the points and not the process. Then you think about the next game (against Switzerland). So the next game if it’s going on, you have to curb it and hope it doesn’t happen again. That’s how you coach. It’s how guys get better.”
Hunter’s message was received loud and clear by the 6-1, 192 pound forward, who scored his first goal of the tournament in Canada’s 5-1 win over the Czech Republic.
“I think he’s right. I have to improve my defensive game and (play) without the puck. I have to get better and that’s what I’m trying to do,” Lafreniere said. “When I don’t have the puck, just try to be aware where all the other players are and you know just try to be good positionally and just try to stop on pucks.”
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According to ISS Hockey scout Ben Gallant, Lafreniere’s defensive woes are typical of offensive talents playing in the QMJHL.
“I think offensive guys in the Q, there’s a lot of solid defensive guys, but offensive, skilled guys in the Q really just want to be offensive guys,” Gallant said. “When you’re an offensive skilled guy, you can get away with being an offensive skilled guy a little bit more in the Q compared to the O, it seems like.”
While his defensive game needs work, Lafreniere’s offensive talent has scouts raving about his potential.
“He’s really good at seeing the open guy and taking advantage of small space or soft pockets of space, especially in the offensive zone or in transition,” Gallant said. “This is where he’s obviously most effective. On the power play, he’s really creative, uses space well, gets into space well.”
Entering Wednesday's QMJHL action, Lafreniere is fifth in league scoring with 17 goals and 37 assists in 31 games despite being away with Team Canada since Dec. 10.
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Joe Veleno knows Lafreniere’s talents first hand. The Drummondville forward, Lafreniere's World Juniors teammate, has had several battles on the ice with the Oceanic star in QMJHL meetings.
“He’s got some talent that not too many guys have. Obviously in the Q we like to fight around a bit,” Veleno said. “You’ve got to contain him well in the corners. He’s shifty. He’s got a few tricks up his sleeve so obviously you want to be physical with him and not give him too much space with the puck.”
A native of Saint-Eustache, an off-island suburb of Montreal in western Quebec, Lafreniere is poised to become the first player from his home town to hear his name called at an NHL draft. But in order to have success at the next level, Lafreniere will need to make adjustments.
“I think he’ll need to add some weight just so he can succeed in more battles,” Gallant said. “He’s pretty competitive already in terms of puck battles and stuff like that, especially down low offensively — that’ll help as he gets bigger and stronger.
“Just a commitment to buying into a system defensively will help a lot, too.”