The most surprising addition to the Rangers this season has also somewhat been the team’s saving grace.
When Vincent Trocheck went down with an upper-body injury in the second game of the season, the Blueshirts lost not only a critical member of their top six, but one of their marquee skaters at the center position, where they are organizationally thin.
Noah Laba’s emergence in training camp was one thing. The 22-year-old blossoming into an impactful middle-six NHLer, however, might just be one of the major keys to the Rangers remaining competitive without Trocheck.
“I think you could say [the game is slowing down for me with every rep],” Laba said after scoring the second goal of his career in the Rangers’ 3-2 overtime victory in Seattle on Saturday. “Or just kind of building more confidence in my game. … Especially from Game 1 until now. It’s about experience, and the more I get, I feel like I’m just building my game and building my confidence.”
The 6-foot-3, 214-pound Laba entered training camp with a size and build that intrigued the coaching staff. Leading the Rangers in points (two goals, four assists) in the preseason, Laba earned the third-line center job and has only demanded more responsibility since then.
Head coach Mike Sullivan recently decided to load up his top line with Artemi Panarin, J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanejad amid the team’s offensive struggles. That meant someone was going to have to step up into the top six.
On Saturday night in Seattle, Laba skated between Will Cuylle and Alexis Lafrenière as the Rangers second-line center.
The trio was dominant in 11:01 of five-on-five ice time against the Kraken, out-chancing their opponents 6-1 and posting a 77.45 expected goals for percentage. Laba hunts for pucks, takes up a lot of space on the ice and does it all at a speed that’s difficult to contain.
Among Rangers who have played in all 13 games so far this season, Laba owns the highest goals for percentage (66.67).
“His game just gets better right in front of us with every game that he plays,” Sullivan said of Laba, who has four points and a plus-three rating in 13 games. “He’s just playing with so much confidence, and he’s hungry, you know? He’s strong on pucks. I think his speed is evident. He gets in on the forecheck. He wins a lot of foot races. But the most impressive thing for me is just his composure. Positionally, he’s pretty sound, and the mistakes he makes are mistakes of enthusiasm. And we can check those out because he has aptitude for the game.
“But he’s playing with way more confidence. He’s hanging onto pucks, he’s making plays. The goal he gets is just a second-effort play, just driving the net.”
Ahead of Laba’s first NHL training camp, the Rangers could never have known how important the Colorado College product would be this season.
Trocheck has resumed skating in New York and is eligible to come off long-term injured reserve any day now.
It’ll likely take the 32-year-old some time to get back into game shape, but when he does, the Rangers may suddenly look a little deeper down the middle than anyone expected them to be this season.
The Rangers may have found something special in the 111th-overall pick from 2022.
“It’s awesome,” Laba said of the promotion. “I mean, to have that opportunity [on the second line], I’m super grateful for, and I just try to take it and do the best with it I can to help the team win. At the end of the day, that’s all I want, is for this team to win.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
