Noah Laba has made good case to be on roster
The Rangers' Noah Laba plays the puck against Islanders right wing Simon Holmstrom during a preseason game on Thursday at Madison Square Garden. Credit: Noah K. Murray
The Rangers stayed in New England after Saturday’s 4-1 preseason-closing loss to the Bruins in Boston, going to Rhode Island for a couple of days of team bonding and team-building. After a day off Sunday, they’ll have a final practice Monday at the University of Rhode Island before Tuesday’s regular-season opener against Pittsburgh at the Garden.
As of Sunday, 24 players remained on the roster, including exciting rookie Noah Laba and veteran Conor Sheary, who’s in camp on a professional tryout. The Rangers have to make one last cut to get to the 23-man limit by Monday’s deadline.
Laba has made the strongest possible case to make the team. The 22-year-old center, a fourth-round draft pick (No. 111 overall) in 2022, was a long shot to make the team entering training camp and instead appeared ticketed to be the No. 1 center at AHL Hartford. But after he played in all six preseason games and led the team in scoring with two goals and four assists, how can they not keep him now?
Laba scored the Rangers’ only goal Saturday on a six-on-four power-play deflection late in the third period. His other goal was the overtime winner Thursday at UBS Arena against the Islanders.
On Saturday, he centered the third line, with Juuso Parssinen — the pre-camp front-runner to win the third-line center spot — playing next to him on the wing. According to Natural Stat Trick, their line, with Taylor Raddysh on the right, had more shot attempts (8-6), shots (3-1) and high-danger chances (2-1) than their opponents in what looked to be a close-to-full-strength Bruins lineup.
With the status of captain J.T. Miller (lower-body injury) and Artemi Panarin (upper-body injury) still somewhat of a question — both sat out Saturday’s game — that could help Laba stick around, at least for the start of the season.
Meanwhile, Sheary, 33, goes back a long way with coach Mike Sullivan after playing for him in the Pittsburgh organization and being part of the group that won two straight Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017. He also played well in training camp, doing his work early in the preseason to earn himself a contract and putting up a goal and two assists in four games.
If Sheary sticks as the third-line left wing, that could make youngster Brett Berard, 23, expendable. And if Parssinen (one goal, one assist, plus-2 in five preseason games) proves he can play both center and wing, that could make utilityman Jonny Brodzinski expendable as well.
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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