The Rangers forward entered wanting to add more offense to his game, wanting to improve upon his nine-goal, 24-point rookie campaign that displayed plenty of potential.
But head coach Mike Sullivan also said that Laba, and by extension his third line, can ease the workloads of Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller — whose ice time in 2025-26 jumped from the previous year — by earning trust to take defensive zone faceoffs too.
asserted
time → enter → faceoffs
tRY IT NOWLaba’s 50.8 percent success rate at the dot was the worst among the Blueshirts’ regular centers and ranked 78th in the NHL among skaters who took 300 faceoffs.
asserted
who → try → faceoffs
But Sullivan described Laba as someone who’s “pretty good at the faceoff circle” and “has a better understanding of how we’re trying to play.”
asserted
we → describe → understanding
He’ll occupy a critical role as their third-line center, and, with Vincent Trocheck gone, sits one injury away from top-six responsibility.
asserted
Trocheck → occupy → responsibility
He also now will be directly responsible for helping spell Zibanejad and Miller in certain defensive situations.
asserted
He → help → situations
“Last year, we leaned on J.T. and Mika a lot in those situations,” Sullivan said Wednesday.
asserted
Sullivan → lean → situations
“[Laba] was a young guy, trying to find his way in the league, and I didn’t want to put him in difficult spots.
asserted
I → try → spots
I think now he’s got a year under his belt.
asserted
he → think → belt
So our hope is that maybe we can take J.T. and Mika out of some of those situations and deploy them in a more advantageous situation offensively to try to take advantage of their strength as a group.”
asserted
we → take → group
Zibanejad averaged 20:54 of ice time, his highest since the 2019-20 campaign, and led the Rangers with 412 defensive zone faceoffs.
asserted
Zibanejad → average → faceoffs
Miller averaged 20:09 last season, marking a noticeable increase from 18:31 during his 31-game stint with the Blueshirts in 2024-25, and took 294 faceoffs in the Rangers end.
asserted
Miller → average → end
Part of the spike in ice time stemmed from their penalty-kill contributions.
asserted
Part → stem → contributions
Part of that stemmed from anchoring the top power-play unit in addition to their top-six roles.
asserted
Part → stem → roles
Sullivan also has spoken about wanting to take away some of the penalty-kill minutes for Miller and Zibanejad, and he didn’t hesitate when asked if Laba’s line can help with the defensive-zone draws.
asserted
line → speak → draws
Last year at this time, Laba was just trying to claw his way onto the roster and crack the opening-night lineup after a strong training camp.
asserted
Laba → try → camp
He aced his preseason tests with six points in six games.
asserted
He → ace → games
By the time the Rangers’ miserable campaign ended, he finished with 24 points in 74 games, meshed particularly well with Will Cuylle and managed to take 236 defensive-zone faceoffs, winning 50 percent of them.
asserted
he → end → them
“Faceoffs are a big part of the game,” Laba, 23, told The Post on Friday, “so just continuing to get my faceoff percentage up is only gonna help the team and help in those crucial D-zone draws.”
asserted
percentage → tell → draws
Laba and Cuylle have remained together throughout the preseason, including for the Rangers’ final exhibition Friday night against the Devils, while skating alongside newcomer Eeli Tolvanen.
asserted
Laba → remain → Tolvanen
Sullivan thought that Cuylle and Laba enhanced the Blueshirts’ top-nine, as opposed to just limiting them to a top-six.
asserted
Cuylle → think → six
And even after emerging as a bright spot in Year 1, Laba felt like he had more to prove in his encore with holding onto pucks longer, making more plays and believing in what he can contribute in the NHL.
asserted
he → emerge → NHL
He has goals for numbers — which he declined to reveal — that he wants to reach offensively in 2026-27 but also aims to simply create more chances and trust that, eventually, the goals would follow the tangible opportunities.
asserted
goals → have → opportunities
And he has an added responsibility — a challenge, of sorts — to step into now too that could directly help unlock more for the Rangers offense.
uncertain
that → have → offense
“Like Sully said, if our line’s able to relieve some of those minutes from those top guys, it’s big,” Laba said.
asserted
Laba → say → guys
The Aporia
