There is a lesson in perspective somewhere in the fact that Alexis Lafreniere and Will Cuylle are the same age, picked in the same draft, 59 spots apart.
That started to hit home sometime before Game 5 when Cuylle was asked about Lafreniere’s progress.
“I’ve kinda followed him over the years cause we were drafted the same year. I started watching the Rangers a lot after I was drafted by them,” Cuylle said. “I think he’s just progressed more and more every year, just keeps impressing us even as this season has gone on.”
Lafreniere has grown up in New York, with the expectations of a top pick, and endured all the trappings of that.
Cuylle got the luxury of growing up in Windsor, Ontario and Hartford. His ascension as a rookie and in his inaugural playoffs has been less dramatic than Lafreniere’s — no one is calling Cuylle, Alex Wennberg and Kaapo Kakko the Kid Line, and it has not carried a scoring load the way that trio did two seasons ago.
But Cuylle’s game, mostly quiet and hardworking, mostly played in a straight line, has proven adaptable to the playoff stage.
“He’s physical, he can skate, good shot, like last game he scored a goal. Big boy, good for the playoffs,” Kakko told The Post on Monday morning. “Physicality, I would say, is the biggest thing. He finishes the hits, which is a big thing also. I think just keep doing the same things, it’s the same game, just a little more physical, I would say, and it’s good for him.”
By expected goals percentage, Cuylle has been second only to Kakko in terms of five-on-five impact for the Rangers this postseason. The rookie’s breakaway goal in Game 4 marked his only point of the playoffs so far, but the third line has consistently played up ice and created chances.
“I felt like we had been playing pretty good throughout the playoffs, just pucks weren’t kinda going in as much as we wanted but we were getting looks,” Cuylle said. “Great possession time and lots of chances. I think it was only a matter of time before we had one. Just look to keep it going.”
In the same way the 2022 playoffs did for Lafreniere and Kakko, these playoffs have offered a preponderance of evidence in favor of Cuylle.
You can call it a breakout for Cuylle if you want, at least in his own fashion, on his own terms and on his own time.
“I feel like every player’s different in how they develop,” Cuylle said. “I think we all play a different style of game. I think for me, get a bit better as the year goes on and get better and better and better each day. That’s how I try to look at it.”