Rumor: Rangers make former #1 pick Alexis Lafreniere available for trade.

The New York Rangers are currently inside the playoff picture but in spite of that it sounds like they are considering a major shakeup to their current roster ahead of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Now to be clear there are already conflicting reports on this matter, however over the weekend The Fourth Period's David Pagnotta dropped a big rumor regarding Rangers forward Alexis Lafreniere. Lafreniere, who was selected 1st overall by the Rangers at the 2020 National Hockey League Entry Draft, has reportedly been made available by the Rangers according to Pagnotta's latest report.

"Some interesting things that are coming out of the Big Apple here and I'm sure this is gonna thrill a lot of Rangers fans," said Pagnotta. "One player that they are dangling right now from what I'm being told is, and I'm going to preface this by saying it is going to take a significant deal for this to happen, but my understanding is that they have made Alexis Lafreniere available if they bring in a top flight talent in return that is controllable, that has term on his contract."

To be clear Pagnotta does not believe that the Rangers are simply willing to give up on their former first overall pick, but rather claimed that the return would need to be a player of significant value to make the deal a reality.

"They are not just gonna move Lafreniere for the sake of it, it's got to be a significant, we're talking blockbuster type of deal, but if he goes it is to bring in somebody that is controllable, that is signed, that is relatively young, with a solid cap hit to go along with it," added Pagnotta.

As to why the Rangers might be looking to move on from Lafreniere so quickly? Pagnotta cited upcoming cap concerns for the Rangers organization as a motivating factor in a deal of this nature.

"There's a little bit of concern down the road... in a few years the salary cap is gonna be an issue for the New York Rangers with both him and K'Andre Miller in two seasons needing new deals. That's something to look out for here in the next couple of days to see if the Rangers can pull something big off ahead of the deadline."

Not everyone agrees with this take however and in fact New York Rangers insider Larry Brooks issued a strong rebuttal to the rumor that Lafreniere was available over the weekend.

"If this even needs to be said, report that Rangers are shopping or looking to deal Lafreniere is utter fiction, per trustworthy club source," said Brooks on Saturday.

There's little doubt that Brooks is indeed well connected when it comes to the Rangers and I genuinely believe that a team source has informed him of what he claims. That being said however, Pagnotta is not known for simply making things of this nature up out of the blue, so this will be a situation worth watching leading up to Monday's National Hockey League trade deadline.