The Rangers identity shift starts at the bottom of the lineup

When the Rangers were down 0–3 on Saturday night to the Montreal Canadiens, The Garden was desolate, quiet, and downtrodden. I would know — I was there. Fans sank into their seats with the usual dread and lack of energy that seems to permeate the world’s most famous arena when things aren’t going well for the Blueshirts.

Then a jolt of life came from the second power‑play unit, which is primarily made up of role players with some offensive upside. It’s a sharp contrast to the loaded first unit, which usually plays a pass‑heavy style, whereas the second unit thrives in a more up‑and‑down game.

Noah Laba scored a scrappy goal in front of a crowded net, slapping home a loose puck off a Will Cuylle drive. It was exactly the kind of goal the Rangers needed at that early juncture, staring down a three‑goal deficit. It brought the Garden back to life and energized the team, helping them pull within one later in the second period — even after Josh Anderson had briefly deflated the building with an early goal of his own.

That rallying Rangers goal came from another Cuylle–Laba‑driven sequence. Laba kept the puck alive along the boards and worked it back to the point, where it was sent in off the boards and behind the net to Cuylle, who scored another gritty goal by banking the puck off Jacob Fowler’s pads and watching it trickle behind him.

These are the kinds of goals that win games. You can’t always try to paint a Picasso out there. Those fancy tape‑to‑tape passes are nice to look at, but most NHL teams are structured well enough defensively to prevent highlight‑reel plays from deciding games.

The Rangers soon tied the game and eventually defeated the Canadiens in an overtime thriller. But none of it happens without the down‑low, gritty play of the Rangers’ two most important role players.

Their style, youthful exuberance, and straightforward approach have created a domino effect throughout the lineup. They’re high‑energy, high‑octane players who understand that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line — and it shows in their relentless play.

These players are making an impact on the ice and on the organization’s spreadsheet. Lest we forget, Will Cuylle was a prime candidate to be offer‑sheeted by another team this offseason. No one would have been surprised if a cap‑rich club had blown the Rangers and Cuylle’s agent away with a long‑term deal in the $5–7 million range.

But luckily for the Rangers, that nightmare scenario never materialized, and Chris Drury was able to ink his young upstart forward to a team‑friendly bridge deal at two years and $3.9 million per season. It was a pivotal move. Matching a massive offer sheet — or being forced to trade Cuylle — would have had significant consequences for the 2025–26 roster.

Then there’s Noah Laba, the 22‑year‑old center from Colorado College on an two-way $870k per season contract, a fourth‑round pick (111th overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft, who burst onto the scene in training camp and forced Mike Sullivan’s hand to give him the third‑line center role.

The Rangers have been notoriously thin down the middle for several seasons. But Laba making the cut has turned a weakness into a strength. With Mika Zibanejad anchoring the first line, Vincent Trocheck centering the second (flanked by J.T. Miller, whose natural position is also center), and Laba and Sam Carrick rounding out the bottom six, the Rangers are no longer as thin at center ice as they once were.

This is the domino effect that role players like Cuylle and Laba create — they round out your lineup and elevate the high‑skill players above them in the pecking order.

The story of this season is still unfolding, and these youngsters are only beginning to grow into their bodies and their roles. The Rangers will need as much of that development as possible, as quickly as possible, if they hope to raise their compete level and create real separation in the standings.