NY Rangers HC Mike Sullivan issues three-word warning to once-dubbed generational talent

The New York Rangers keep reaching new lows in their embarrassing 2025-26 NHL season. After the 4-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken, head coach Mike Sullivan voiced a stern reminder to Alexis Lafreniere and the rest of the squad in The Big Apple.

“We need more,” Mike Sullivan admitted after the loss on home ice to the Kraken, via The New York Post. “We need more out of some guys. I think [Lafreniere] is a guy who can bring more to the table for us.”

So far in the 2025-26 NHL season, Lafreniere registers 24 points (9 goals and 15 assists) in 47 appearances with the NY Rangers. Needless to say, his underwhelming production is closely tied to the team’s overall struggles.

It would be both unfair and nonsensical to suggest the Broadway Blueshirts are second-to-last in the East because of Lafreniere’s struggles, but the truth is he hasn’t done much to help, either.

Mike Sullivan at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York.

Lafreniere’s journey

Selected with the first overall pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, Lafreniere was expected to be great. While the term “generational talent” is often misused or applied too loosely to projected first-overall selections, Lafreniere did put on a show during his time in the QMJHL, leading fans and analysts to believe he could become an all-time great in the league.

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He can still blossom into one, but six seasons into his career, the letdowns have far outweighed the highs for Lafreniere on Broadway. Now, not even his head coach, Sullivan, is sugarcoating his feelings. New York needs more out of the player it once believed would be its franchise savior.

Rangers’ losing streak

Following the loss to the Kraken, Sullivan’s Rangers have now dropped four straight games and are 2-6-2 in their last 10 outings. The scoring woes are impossible to ignore. In their past four losses, New York has scored just two goals per game.

In today’s NHL, that simply isn’t enough. Especially considering Igor Shesterkin’s absence in net. The Rangers must pick up the pace offensively while improving defensively, too. The Blueshirts have been outscored 22–8 during their current skid, including a humiliating 10–2 defeat at Madison Square Garden to the Boston Bruins.