Noah Laba showed up last season as one of the Rangers’ most unexpected wins, and now he’s got a real chance to turn that breakout into something bigger.
The 2022 fourth-round pick arrived at training camp with almost no buzz around him. The expectation was simple: he’d likely spend the year in the American Hockey League with the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Instead, Laba kept forcing the issue all summer. He stood out in camp and the preseason, made the opening-night roster, and grabbed the third-line center job.
From there, he never gave it back.
Laba stayed in New York for the full 2025-26 season and finished with nine goals, 15 assists and 24 points while averaging 13:28 a night. More important than the numbers was the way his game settled in as the year went on. He became more comfortable at the NHL level, showed he could help create offense, and earned trust as a dependable two-way forward.
For a rookie, the maturity jumped off the page. Laba quickly grew into the kind of versatile piece every team wants - the sort of player who can do a little bit of everything and keep coaches happy in the process.
That momentum puts him in a strong spot heading into 2026-27. The Rangers should have him in a similar third-line center role, though there’s a path for more if things shift around him.
With Vincent Trocheck now in Utah, the Rangers could push Laba into a top-six spot if Mike Sullivan decides to move Mika Zibanejad or J.T. Miller to the wing, something he did at times last season.
There’s also room for Laba to take on more work on the penalty kill as his defensive game keeps coming along.
After the kind of rookie year he put together, Laba has a chance to take another real step and become a key piece of this retool.
In Other News...
Rangers Deadline Gamble Still Stings For One Brutal Reason
At the 2023 trade deadline, the Rangers went all-in on a push that was supposed to change their spring, bringing in Vladimir Tarasenko, Niko Mikkola, Tyler Motte and Patrick Kane to deepen a roster built for a longer run. The moves gave the club added firepower and experience down the stretch, and for a while it looked like the front office had given the group every possible chance to cash in on a season that had been trending the right way.
The part that still lingers, though, is how quickly it all unraveled once the playoffs began. New Yorks stay ended in a seven-game first-round series against the Devils, and the disappointment carried straight into the offseason, when Gerard Gallant was let go and all four deadline additions moved on as well. For a team that paid to be judged by results, the ending made the gamble feel even harsher in hindsight. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Still Have One Clear Roster Need Before Opening Night
With the NHL season set to open on Sept. 29, the Rangers are still being mentioned among the teams keeping an eye on last-minute roster tweaks before opening night. Around the league, clubs are treating this stretch as a final chance to shore up weaknesses, and New York fits that description as well, with front offices still weighing whether the current group is complete enough to start the year.
The Rangers have already done some reshaping of their lineup, but the sense remains that they may not be done yet as the calendar turns toward the opener. Edmonton and Chicago are also in that same conversation, though the Blackhawks will have to begin the season without Connor Bedard after shoulder surgery, a blow that only sharpens the pressure on their scoring depth. For New York, the question is less about headline moves than whether one more addition can make the roster feel truly settled. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Still Need One Superstar Move From Chris Drury
The Rangers have spent the summer acting like a team with a big swing still in mind, even as the market has not exactly handed them one. Michael Rupp has suggested New York has long had its eyes on a true difference-maker, the kind of player who can tilt the balance in the Eastern Conference, and the front office is still viewed as planning for a significant addition rather than simply standing pat.
The problem is that the path to that kind of move keeps getting narrower. The free-agent class that was supposed to offer more impact never really showed up, and while speculation can quickly turn to trade targets when that happens, one of the names floating around the broader rumor mill does not appear to be a realistic fit right now. For Chris Drury, the pressure remains the same: find the one superstar move that changes the conversation, even if the options are thinning out. [Read more 🡒]