Buy or Sell: Will Alex Laferriere lead the Los Angeles Kings in goals?

One of the top bright spots for the Los Angeles Kings this season has been the emergence of Alex Laferriere, who currently has four goals through nine games. The 2020 third-round pick by the Los Angeles Kings earned a spot on the NHL roster coming out of training camp last season and appeared in 81 games and finished with 12 goals.

The scoring has certainly improved this season as he has four goals to begin the season and over 82 games that would end up being around 36 goals. That would be an impressive jump for a player just playing in his second season in the NHL.

If Laferriere was able to get to 36 goals, there is a good chance that he would end up leading the Los Angeles Kings this season in that stat. The question now is whether or now he will be able to keep that pace so let's dive into the numbers.

Buy or Sell: Will Alex Laferriere lead the Los Angeles Kings in goals?

Alex Laferriere had a great stretch with four goals over four games starting with two goals against the Ottawa Senators and then back-to-back games with a goal against Montreal and Anaheim. However, he has now gone three straight games without a goal.

Another reason for the incredible start in this category is that he is making the most of his shots with a shot percentage of 19%. It isn't unheard of for players to remain at this percentage but is unlikely as there were only 9 players in the NHL to have a shot percentage of 19% or higher.

The biggest determining factor if Laferriere will break 35 goals this season is which line he spends most of the year. He began the season on the top line with Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe and would have ice time of 15 minutes or more in three of the first four games.

However, he moved to the line with Alex Turcotte and Warren Foegele after the Maple Leafs game when Jim Hiller decided to shake up the lines. Since that change, Laferriere has only had one game with more than 15 minutes.

Prediction: Sell

While I am selling the idea of 35+ goals for Laferriere, I believe he should have a career year in the category and it wouldn't be surprising to see him finish in the 25-30 goal range. However, the Kings should have at least one player break 30 goals and in that scenario Laferriere wouldn't lead the team in goals.