The New York Rangers NCAA Prospects: Part One - The Forwards
As the 2024 New York Rangers rookie training camp gets underway, one of the most asked questions is why aren't any of the Ranger's prospects who play in the NCAA attending this camp? There are a few reasons why Gabe Perreault or E.J. Emery aren't in attendance.
It starts with the NCAA rules on college eligibility as
"NCAA regulations allow student-athletes (or prospective student-athletes) to take part in one testing or tryout session per NHL team, at the team's expense, for up to 48 hours. An exception is if a player takes part in the NHL Draft Combine or the NHL Research and Development Camp - those events are considered tryouts for all 30 teams. A player could participate in another tryout beyond those events but would need to pay his own way."
- https://collegehockeyinc.com/faq.php#:~:
Now you are asking but how is it that the NCAA prospects can attend the rookie or development camps? That answer can also be found under the same regulation as
"NCAA prospects or current players may attend NHL summer development camps, or prospect camps, but must pay their own way (transportation, lodging, food, etc.) and current players may not miss class to do so.
- https://collegehockeyinc.com/faq.php#:~:
There is an opportunity, similar to the 48-hour rule (see above), to have an NHL team pay a portion of a player's stay at development camp on a one-time-per-team basis. The 48-hour period begins when you arrive at the team's facility and ends exactly 48 hours later. While in attendance the team can supply you with expenses that include travel, hotel, food, equipment, and all costs associated with practice and off-ice training. A player would have to cover all costs after that 48-hour period, including return transportation home."
But then there is also a legit reason Gabe Perreault and E.J. Emery aren't at the Rangers rookie camp and that is the start of the school year. Go back to that last quote and the very last words of the first paragraphs which says the players can't miss class.
You didn't ask me but considering how these days with the "student-athlete" eligible to collect "Name, Image, and Likeness" monies then why not allowing them the opportunities to attend a second two-day camp is just silly.
So now let's get right to the Rangers NCAA forward prospects. Right off the bat I am sure people are going to be very unhappy when I say that the best forward prospects that the Rangers has isn't name Gabe Perreault.
No, the best forward prospect the Rangers have is a 6'2 200 lb. center playing at Colorado College named Noah Laba. The Rangers 2022 fourth-round pick is coming off a 20-17-37 sophomore season and sure his numbers aren't as loud as Gabe Perrault's are, but Laba is the one prospect that Chris Drury tried his best to convince him to leave school.
A 2024 Second Team All-American, the NCHC Defensive player of the year and the winner of the "Three Stars" Award. Laba is the best prospect you never heard of but that is going to change this season as already many are talking about Laba as a legit Hobey Baker candidate.
Laba when he shows up and signs his professional contract will become the best center prospect the Rangers have. Laba patterns himself after former Detroit Red Wing Pavel Datsyuk and just like Datsyuk, he can do it all from goal scoring, to set up to being a defensive stopper.
Laba was also one of the top faceoff centers in all of the NCAAs last season. and he was fourth in the nation with seven game-winning goals. Project him to be the future first line center for the Rangers.
Gabe Perreault had a solid first-year season at Boston College. One of the top scorers in the NCAA even after missing time with a hand injury. But unless Perreault can improve his body, especially his lower body, then a word of caution as to whether those large offensive numbers will translate to success at the NHL level.
Yes, you can be a shorter player in today's NHL but what you can't be is a player who only weighs 165-170 pounds. Three games stood out last year as an area of concern, the first was the opening game of the NCAA tournament against Michigan Tech where Perreault was ejected for a check to the head after Tech played a physical game against Perreault.
Game two was the second round of the NCAA tournament against Quinnipiac who also turned Perreault into a non-factor by playing physical hockey against him. Perreault recorded three first-period shots, but none were scoring chances.
In the national semi-finals, Perreault was able to have his best game going 1-2-3 against Michigan. However, in the national championship game, Perrault again blanked thanks to Denver playing a physical game limiting Perreault to just three shots and none were really scoring chances.
Perreault needs to remake his body, add at least ten even better if it is fifteen pounds of lower body muscle so he isn't easy to body off the puck. If not, Perreault will show why he fell to the Rangers in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.
Ty Henricks was the Rangers sixth-round selection in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. Keeping in the Drury love of drafting big players, Henricks is 6'5 205 pounds of power forward as he spent last season with the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL where he recorded a 17-15-32 season.
Henricks is headed to Western Michigan of the NCHC and if his projections continue to improve then, Henricks might be another in the list of Rangers sixth round draft steals. Like his size but right now consistency is the biggest area where he must show improvement,
Henricks can play either wing but will eventually wind up as a left winger. Henricks needs a better first step as a skater and I would like to see him shoot the puck a lot more.
Zakary Karpa is the final Rangers forward prospect but sorry to say it is very hard to view him as any kind of professional prospect. Entering his senior season at Harvard, Karpa is 15-13-28 in three years at Harvard.
The son of former Rangers player Dave Karpa, I am sorry to say that the skillset and potential just are not there for him to be viewed as any kind of prospect.
Laba and Perreault appear to be the Rangers best hopes for potential players but of the two, I say go with Laba as he has the most to offer.