Alexis Lafreniere, the likely No. 1 pick for the 2020 NHL draft, received the Canadian Hockey League’s Dave Branch Player of the Year Award for the second consecutive season. The Rimouski Oceanic winger joins former Oceanic star Sidney Crosby as the only players to have earned the honor in back-to-back seasons.
Lafreniere, 18, led the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with 112 points in 52 games before this season was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. His 2.15 points per game average was the highest in the CHL since Connor McDavid had 2.50 in 2014-15.
Lafreniere also won the award following the 2018-19 season when he posted 105 points in 61 games for Rimouski. The CHL has handed out a player of the year award every season since 1975-76. Crosby won it in 2003-04 and 2004-05 before going first overall to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2005 draft.
Crosby, who had his number retired by the Oceanic last season, ranks second all time in scoring for Rimouski with 303 points over two seasons. Lafreniere is fourth on the franchise list with 297 points over three seasons.
Lafreniere has acquired a lot of hardware over the past three seasons on top of back-to-back CHL player of the year awards. He was the QMJHL’s player of the year in each of the past two seasons and the league’s rookie of the year in 2017-18. He also left the 2020 IIHF World Junior Championship with a gold medal, the best forward award and was named tournament MVP while representing Canada.
Ranked No. 1 in ESPN’s most recent NHL draft rankings, Lafreniere became the 15th player to win the CHL’s top honor in his first season of draft eligibility and first since McDavid in 2015.
The NHL plans to hold Phase I of its 2020 draft lottery on June 26. A new date for the 2020 NHL draft, which had been scheduled for June 26-27 in Lafreniere’s home province of Quebec, has not been set.