The Rangers are leaving the door open for center prospect Noah Laba to crack the opening night roster, head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters Wednesday, including Vince Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic.
“It might be too early to have that conversation at this point, but [Laba] certainly has performed extremely well in this early part of camp,” Sullivan said. He added Laba is “one of” the players in the mix to hold down a third-line center job for the Blueshirts, along with leading contender Juuso Pärssinen, whom the club acquired from the Avalanche in last season’s Ryan Lindgren trade.
Laba, 22, certainly has pro-ready size at 6’2″ and 192 lbs. A 2022 fourth-round pick, his offensive ceiling will be the biggest concern about rushing him to major-league minutes. He signed his entry-level contract this year after wrapping up three seasons at Colorado College. While he had a standout sophomore campaign in 2023-24 with a 20-17–37 scoring line in 36 games to lead the team in every offensive category, he cooled off somewhat last year with a 10-16–26 line in 29 appearances. He was still the team’s focal point offensively, but he didn’t receive the laundry list of accolades he got the year prior, including being a Hobey Baker nominee and earning Best Defensive Forward and First All-Star Team honors from the NCHC.
After signing Laba in March – a deal that didn’t begin until this season anyway – he finished out the year with AHL Hartford on a tryout. He didn’t look particularly out of place there, recording a 3-2–5 scoring line in 11 games.
A third-line pivot piece is likely Laba’s long-term ceiling as a moderately productive but primarily defense-conscious center. Getting him a taste of what could be a long-term role for him wouldn’t be without precedent. The Rangers haven’t been afraid to graduate under-the-radar rookies virtually straight from college to the NHL. They did so last year with defenseman Victor Mancini, selected one round after Laba in 2022. He broke camp with the club and bounced between the NHL and AHL before being sent to the Canucks in the J.T. Miller deal. The same fate could befall the waiver-exempt Laba. Mancini made 15 NHL appearances and 23 in the AHL with Hartford before getting sent to the Canucks.
Outside of Pärssinen, Laba, and potentially veteran Jonny Brodzinski, the Rangers aren’t overflowing with depth center options who have the offensive utility to play a top-nine role. Even the leading contender comes with a fair amount of question marks. Pärssinen, 24, impressed with 25 points in 45 games in his first NHL stint with Nashville two years ago but hasn’t flashed that upside since. He had a 6-10–16 scoring line in 48 appearances with three different clubs last year, including a 2-3–5 line in 11 games to end the season in New York while averaging just 9:46 per game. With under $800K in cap space, though, their options to make a free-agent add to lock down the role are somewhat limited.
Mancini looked very capable when they played the kraken a couple days ago. Dude is fast, and scored a goal if I remember correctly. Might have to play a little more strategically to keep the management’s trust, but definitely looked capable. Pretty uplifting news for the Rangers if Laba is comparatively apt.
Laba, And Gabe Perreault really stood out for the Rangers last night.
I mean, aren’t they considering everyone in camp? That’s why we have training camp. At this point the Rangers have probably the weakest bottom six in the league so there should be a lot of spots up for grabs.
Technically the Rangers could go with Miller, Zibs and Trocheck down the middle if they really needed to. Panarin, Cuyle, and Laffy on the left with Perrault, Othmann and Bedard on the right.
Maybe get 40 games out 9f Kuznetsov until Laba is banging down the door for a call up. Might be worth it in a one year deal that can be dumped at deadline.
I don’t think there’s any need to think Pärssinen is going to make some sort of amazing offensive leap, so why not?