Noah Laba makes Rangers for opening night against Penguins
Noah Laba of the Rangers skates against the New Jersey Devils during the first period in a preseason game at the Prudential Center on Sept. 21 in Newark, N.J. Credit: Getty Images/Bruce Bennett
KINGSTON, R.I. — Mike Sullivan didn’t want to give the answer away too soon, but the fact that rookie Noah Laba went through practice drills at Boss Ice Arena on Monday as the third-line center between Conor Sheary and Taylor Raddysh made the news pretty obvious.
Laba, 22, made the Rangers’ roster for opening night Tuesday at the Garden against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Little more than three hours after practice, the Rangers made it official that both Laba and Sheary, who’d been in camp on a professional tryout, made the team when they announced that forward Brett Berard had been assigned to AHL Hartford. That reduced the roster to the 23-player limit before the NHL’s 5 p.m. deadline.
“We think he’s had a great camp,’’ Sullivan said of Laba, a fourth-round draft pick in 2022 who played in all six preseason games and led the Rangers in scoring (two goals, four assists).
“The player that I watched in the rookie games in Lehigh Valley [against the Flyers’ rookies] versus the player that I watched in Boston [in the final preseason game Saturday], I think he’s made leaps and bounds, even just from a confidence standpoint,’’ Sullivan said.
“I think he physically is capable of playing at this level. He brings good size [6-3, 214]; he can really skate. And I think . . . with each game that he’s played, each practice that he’s had, he’s probably provided evidence to himself that he belongs.’’
When Laba spoke to reporters, he was asked if he surprised himself with the way he performed. Not really, he said.
“I mean, always nice to get rewarded for performing well and [for] your hard work,’’ he said. “But I think I always believe in myself. So I don’t know if I’d necessarily call it surprising myself.’’
The Rangers stayed in New England after Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Bruins for a weekend of team building, and they practiced at the University of Rhode Island to get ready for Tuesday’s opener.
They brought 23 players on the trip — forward Jonny Brodzinski wasn’t present because his wife delivered the couple’s third child over the weekend — and still had one more roster move by the deadline. Aside from Laba, Berard, 23, was the only player who could be sent to Hartford without having to pass through waivers.
Sheary, 33, not only skated on the third line with Laba but was part of the second power-play unit with Alexis Lafreniere, Will Cuylle, Matt Rempe and defenseman Braden Schneider. The Rangers announced about three hours after practice that they had signed him to a one-way contract that a league source said is a two-way deal for the NHL minimum ($775,000).
Notes & quotes: Forwards J.T. Miller (lower-body injury) and Artemi Panarin (upper-body injury) returned to full practice and Sullivan said both are good to go for Tuesday.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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