The Rangers have done plenty to reshape their roster after a frustrating 2025-26 season, but the biggest pressure point may be down the middle. Trading Vincent Trocheck to the Utah Mammoth took away one of their best centers, and that leaves New York thinner at a position where it already can’t afford many missteps. Enter Noah Laba, the 23-year-old who is expected to open the season as the Rangers’ third-line center and could wind up carrying far more responsibility than that label suggests.
Laba’s path to this point has been steady. New York picked him in the fourth round of the 2022 NHL Draft, then watched him spend three seasons at Colorado College.
He put up 11 goals and 11 assists in 35 games in 2022-23, followed by 20 goals and 17 assists in 36 games in 2023-24, then 10 goals and 16 assists in 29 games in 2024-25. After signing his entry-level deal with the Rangers, he finished the 2024-25 season with the Hartford Wolf Pack, scoring three goals and adding two assists in 11 AHL games.
Once he got his chance in the NHL last season, Laba didn’t give it back. He broke camp with the Rangers as their third-line center and stayed in the lineup all year, leaning on a 6-foot-3, 214-pound frame that helped him win battles and clog passing and shooting lanes. He skated well enough to get on the forecheck and track back on defense, and he brought a steady, uncomplicated game that kept him in the mix.
The offensive totals weren’t flashy, but they were useful. Laba finished with nine goals and 15 assists in 74 games, along with 110 hits and 43 blocked shots while averaging 13:28 of ice time per game.
He got to the front of the net, chased rebounds, and tipped point shots. He also started to look like a viable penalty-killing option late in the season, and he held his own on draws by winning 50.8 percent of his faceoffs.
This season, the Rangers may ask even more of him. Laba is expected to remain the third-line center, and he could begin the year with Will Cuylle and Eeli Tolvanen on his wings. That trio has enough skill to chip in offensively, but it also fits the kind of heavy, responsible game New York wants from that line.
The Rangers’ forward group should look deeper than it did a year ago after adding Pavel Dorofeyev, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Tolvanen. That should take some of the burden off the top line and could give Laba’s unit more favorable ice. It also opens the door for that line to handle tougher defensive assignments, including shifts against opponents’ top groups.
Last season, New York had the luxury of three veteran centers in Mika Zibanejad, J.T. Miller, and Trocheck, which gave the coaching staff more flexibility when Miller hit a rough patch.
That safety net is gone now. If Miller or Zibanejad misses time, or if either one struggles, Laba would likely be pushed into the top six.
The Rangers already know what they have in him defensively. What they still need is for the offense to keep coming along.
Miller and Zibanejad are expected to start on the top power-play unit, which could create a path for Laba to see time on the second unit. He didn’t log much power-play time last season, but he still managed three goals and two assists with the man advantage.
New York has added pieces all over the lineup, but the trade of Trocheck left a real hole at center. That makes Laba more important than ever, and it also gives him a clear opening to prove he can be more than a solid third-line option. If the Rangers are going to grow into a more balanced team, he may be one of the players they end up leaning on most.
In Other News...
Rangers New-Look Lineup Just Got An Early Reality Check Against Islanders
The Rangers second preseason game offered a decent snapshot of what their opening-night group might look like, and for a while it looked like the new-look lineup was handling the Islanders just fine. New faces made an early impression, the pace had some bite to it, and New York built a 3-1 lead behind goals from Cole Beaudoin, Pavel Dorofeyev and Taylor Raddysh, with Igor Shesterkin turning aside a few dangerous chances to keep things on track.
But preseason is often less about the scoreboard than the warning signs, and this one had plenty of those mixed in with the positives. There were penalties, a fight between Liam Greentree and Scott Mayfield, and enough momentum swings to remind the Rangers that even a dress rehearsal can get messy fast, especially when a roster still trying to settle into itself starts to lose a little control. [Read more 🡒]
Alexis Lafrenire Still Faces The Rangers Question He Hasn't Settled
Alexis Lafrenire has settled into an important place in the Rangers lineup, even if the broader conversation around him still carries the weight of his first-overall draft status. The 2020 pick has given New York solid production and visible growth in the underlying numbers, the kind of steady progress that matters in a league where not every young star arrives on schedule. Last season, he matched a career high in points and remained one of the clubs more effective forwards by the advanced metrics that track overall impact.
The next question is less about whether Lafrenire belongs and more about how far his role can still grow in New Yorks attack. Projections continue to slot him as a top-six winger who should stay involved on the power play, and the Rangers will keep looking for that next layer of offense to show up alongside teammates such as Gabe Perreault. For a player who has already moved past the skepticism that followed him early on, the open-ended part of his story is whether the production simply stays useful, or finally starts to look like the kind of ceiling the Rangers have been waiting to see. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Rookie Just Made The Opening Night Roster Debate Real
Alberts mits kept building his case in a preseason game against the Islanders, a night that gave the Rangers a closer look at what their 2026 fifth-overall pick can already bring. The 18-year-old logged 15:29 of ice time, flashed on both sides of the puck and looked right at home in the kind of setting young players usually need more time to adjust to, with the Garden spotlight and a veteran lineup on the other side.
Mike Sullivan liked what he saw from mits, especially the way he blended physical play with offensive awareness while showing he can handle NHL pace. The rookie said he felt comfortable with the speed of the game and valued the chance to play at Madison Square Garden, which only adds to the sense that the opening-night roster question is becoming more real by the day. [Read more 🡒]