Price Check: Noah Laba

The New York Rangers have had a shortage at the center-ice position for quite some time now, especially internally. To put that into perspective, here's a pretty depressing stat: Across the last 26 years, the Rangers have only drafted five centers who have turned into capable top six forwards for them. Filip Chytil in 2017, J.T. Miller in 2011, Derek Stepan in 2008, Artem Anisimov in 2006, and Brandon Dubinsky in 2004. All of them were traded at or around the midway point of their careers.

Noah Laba looks to develop into the sixth-best center of the Rangers' last quarter century of drafting, which is alarming, to say the least.

Performance to Start the Season  

Entering the final year of his entry-level contract, Laba was expected to be the team's third-line center heading into this season. Coming off a 24-point rookie campaign across 74 games with the Rangers, Laba was immediately put back into that third-line center role at the start of training camp and came out of it with notable chemistry with Will Cuylle and Eeli Tolvanen.

All things considered, that trio had been great together. They each play an honest game where they're hard on the forecheck, defend responsibly, and have enough offensive skills to make things happen on the attack. They kill penalties, they play the game fast and hard, everything the Rangers could want out of a third line. The only problem, at least for Laba, is the fact that the goals are not coming.

Through 14 games to start the season, Laba has just four assists to show for it. He isn't a player the Rangers offense should live or die by, but you ideally want some type of secondary offense coming from your third line. At this point in the season, Cuylle has really been the only part of that third line that has been able to contribute offensively at a relatively consistent level. If Laba can't begin to find the back of the net, it's undoubtedly going to pose questions about his ability in this role moving forward.