The Rangers have opened the 2026-27 season at 4-1-0, and plenty has gone right. But if there’s one early issue worth circling, it’s Noah Laba’s start on the third line.
Vincent Trocheck’s trade changed the center picture and pushed Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller into top-six roles, which left Laba with a bigger job in the middle of the lineup. Through five games, that job has not gone smoothly.
Laba has spent more time defending than driving play, and the numbers back that up. At 5v5, he has logged just over 63 minutes and posted a 25.13% Goals For share, a 33.95% Corsi For, and a 27.77% expected-goals share. For a player who was such a success story in 2025-26, it’s a sharp dip.
Last season told a very different story. Laba finished his rookie year with a 52.98 GF%, a 45.88 CF%, and a 47.38 xGF% over 852 minutes, regularly helping New York tilt low-event minutes in its favor. Right now, the ice is tilting the other way.
The production has been just as quiet. Laba picked up an assist in the second game of the season against Tampa, and that’s still his only point.
He also has only three shots on goal so far. He didn’t register a shot in the first two games, had two in a 2-0 win over Detroit, one in a 4-2 win against Utah, and none against the New York Islanders.
His linemates have been much more active. Will Cuylle and Eeli Tolvanen are still trying to build chemistry, but both have been generating more offense.
Tolvanen has three goals, including two empty-netters, and six shots, while Cuylle has piled up 14 shots and collected assists in three straight games. Cuylle opened with three shots in each of the first two games, then had two in each of the next two, before finishing with a season-high four against the Islanders.
That’s part of why Laba’s start stands out. He looks more like a distributor at the moment than a finisher, and that fits what he showed last season.
He attempted 142 shots in 2025-26, with 73 reaching the net, and he finished with nine goals and 15 points in 24 games. There’s no reason to sound the alarm, but the slow start is real.
There may also be another wrinkle coming. Mike Sullivan has already moved Oliver Bjorkstrand and Tye Kartye around, and recent callup Cole Beaudoin could eventually be a candidate for a third-line look if he sticks and keeps earning minutes.
Beaudoin made his NHL debut and played 9:57, winning six of 11 faceoffs. He was 3-for-3 in the offensive zone, 2-for-4 in the defensive zone, and 1-for-4 in the neutral zone. His debut line included a 100 GF%, a 65.77 CF%, and a 55.56 xGF%.
It’s only one game, but the Rangers brought him up from Hartford after just two games there, so a larger role wouldn’t be hard to imagine if he proves ready.
For now, Laba still has plenty of runway to sort things out. He’s in only his second NHL season, and the Rangers still project him as an important piece. But after the start he’s had, this is one of the few things on the roster worth monitoring closely in the weeks ahead.
In Other News...
Rangers Hot Start Has Fans Believing But The Real Test Is Coming
The Rangers have opened the season with four straight wins and sit atop the league after five games, a burst that has given the Garden plenty to feel good about even if the schedule has not yet offered a full measuring stick. There have been encouraging signs beyond the record, too, from Igor Shesterkins steady work in goal to a noticeable step forward in transition defense, the kind of details that suggest this start is more than a hot stretch built on bounces alone.
Fridays trip to Washington should offer a better read on where this team really stands. The Capitals are expected to be in the Metropolitan Division mix, and a matchup like that will tell a lot about whether the Rangers pace, structure and early confidence can travel beyond the first week of the season and hold up against a heavier challenge. [Read more 🡒]
Igor Shesterkin Is Giving The Rangers Something They Desperately Needed
Igor Shesterkin has given the Rangers exactly the kind of early-season stability they were hoping to see, and then some. Through the opening stretch of the 2026-27 season, he has been piling up the kind of workload and results that quickly quiet any questions about the crease, leading the league in games played, wins, saves and goalie point shares while helping New York open with a three-game winning streak.
Just as notable, Shesterkin has kept the puck out of his net at a consistent clip, allowing two or fewer goals in all four starts. He has also chipped in offensively in a way few goalies ever do, a reminder that his start has not just been effective, but unusual in ways that have given the Rangers an early lift and a little extra buzz around their No. 1. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Blue Line Suddenly Looks Like A Real Strength Again
The Rangers blue line has gone from a question mark to one of the more encouraging parts of their early season, and the change has been easy to see in the teams overall balance. After opening with a loss, New York has strung together four straight wins, with the defense group looking deeper, steadier and less dependent on the same familiar faces every night.
What stands out is how different the rotation feels already, with the summer additions giving the staff more ways to build the lineup and keep pressure off the top pair. Last season the Rangers leaned heavily on their best defensemen just to hold things together, but this group has allowed for a more rounded approach, and it will be worth watching whether that holds once the schedule tightens and the matchups get tougher. [Read more 🡒]