21-goal scoring power forward of the Los Angeles Kings linked to Canadian team
Photo credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Alex Laferriere scored 21 goals and threw 255 hits for the Los Angeles Kings this season. The case to make him a Montreal Canadiens target has one flaw.
The pitch making the rounds frames him as a power forward held back by scarce power-play time, a hidden scorer who would bloom in a top-six role.
The Kings' own season review tells a different story. Laferriere was a regular on the power play and finished as one of the team's least productive forwards on it.
By Los Angeles' internal accounting, the Kings scored at the lowest rate among their nine main power-play forwards with him on the ice.
He managed just five power-play points all year. Despite that, he's been linked to the Montreal Canadiens.
The number that actually explains his season
Strip away the man advantage and Laferriere turns into a genuine driver. Per Natural Stat Trick, he tied Jason Robertson for the NHL lead with 219 scoring chances at five-on-five.
He also ranked fifth leaguewide in high-danger chances. His 21 goals and 255 hits are an even-strength product, not a power-play one.
That distinction matters for any team shopping him. You are buying a five-on-five volume machine, not a sniper one coaching tweak away from 30 goals.
It is the kind of profile fans everywhere misread. Elite chance creation looks like untapped goal-scoring, but the goals may already be close to the ceiling.
Why the availability part is fiction too
There is also the small matter of his contract. Laferriere signed a three-year, $12.3 million extension in August 2025 that runs through 2027-28, per PuckPedia.
He stays a restricted free agent at the end of it, so the Kings control his rights either way. He also said plainly that he wants to stay in Los Angeles.
So the honest read is narrower than the hype. Laferriere is a real top-six even-strength weapon, but he is neither available nor starved of power-play time.
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