Alex Laferriere
Laferriere is playing first-line minutes for Los Angeles, and sources disagree on who his linemates are and whether he is the center, so his usage is solid but the lineup around him is unsettled.
Role
Daily Faceoff's Kings page (fetched Nov 2, last updated Oct 31, source Zach Dooley) has him in the center slot of line 1, between Artemi Panarin and Martin Chromiak. It has him on the first power-play unit with Chromiak, Quinton Byfield, Panarin and Erik Gustafsson. Inside the Rink's Oct 31 preview lists Panarin, Laferriere and Adrian Kempe on line 1, with the same first power-play unit but Kempe in place of Chromiak. The Morning Puck (expected lines for Oct 29) and 5v5 Hockey (Oct 27) also have Laferriere between Panarin and Kempe. I found no current ice-time figure for this season. Trevor Moore, Byfield and Taylor Ward skate on line 2, so I saw no sign of a rival for his line 1 spot. Kempe is not shown anywhere in the lineup on the Daily Faceoff page. I have not found out why, and I won't guess.
He has been promoted to a line with Panarin and a spot on the first power-play unit, which is a bigger role than last season's 13 GP, 9 PTS and 1 PPP. A Kings Insider season review from June called him one of the team's most consistent players and said he is a second-line player who can fit anywhere in the top nine. The same review said he could grow into a second-line center with more time at the position.
The role looks tied to who else is in the lineup. In September he was skating with Mats Zuccarello and Alex Turcotte on a line, and he was fifth man on the top power-play unit when Zuccarello was out. That suggests the power-play role may depend on who is available. The Kings were 4-6-2 going into Oct 31 (Inside the Rink), so lineup changes are plausible. Last season he played 13 GP, and the review calls his best natural fit the wing, not center.
Where analysts split
The disagreement is who plays on his line and whether he is the center. Daily Faceoff (Oct 31) has Chromiak on his wing and him at center, while Inside the Rink (Oct 31) and The Morning Puck (Oct 29) have Kempe there. The sources do not show whether Kempe is missing from the lineup or Chromiak is only a stand-in, and that decides who feeds him on the power play and at 5-on-5. They all agree he has a top-line and first power-play unit role right now.
Research confidence: reported. Outlooks are grounded in web search over current reporting and refreshed through the season.
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