Alexis Lafrenière is still an autonomous player with compensation. The forward could receive an offer sheet at any time, but it would be very surprising if he did, especially from the Habs' point of view. The ties between Jeff Gorton, Nick Bobrov, Martin St-Louis and the Rangers are quite strong, which would pose a problem. What's more, as former CH content creator and now columnist Marc Dumont points out, the Habs already have several projects underway. In his regular Q&A with fans, Dumont answered an interesting question about whether he'd trade a 1st-round pick for Laffy. Here's his answer. <q>Absolutely not. There are already too many draft claims right now with the Montreal Canadiens, and I'm not sure Lafrenière still has elite potential at this point. I'd keep the pick and use it to acquire younger players with higher potential. - Marc Dumont, Montreal Hockey Now</q> In other words, Dumont no longer believes in Lafrenière's potential, at least not at the price of a 1st-round pick. <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/MarcPDumont/status/1681017531916533760?t=pr3s8tZJDkVr65SYKW6S8Q&s=19'> </a></blockquote></div>