With the New York Rangers season starting tomorrow night, I’ve returned from my writing hiatus to share thoughts on the players heading into the season. After 836 words on the top six, I decided to split up my thoughts posts by position, not because I wanted to extort Dave for a bump in pay, but because I wanted to ensure I was getting all my thoughts out. With the top-six covered, the Rangers bottom 6 forwards are next, and it’s far less clear how this shakes out.

Follow this series from Brandon:

Last season, the Rangers bottom 6 forwards were solid at first, but after injuries and shifting players in and out, it ended like the rest of the team did (not great, Bob). Though with Adam Edstrom back and healthy and some of the kids having NHL time under the belt, the Rangers bottom 6 forwards should be improved. Still, there are plenty of questions to discuss. 

What’s going to happen with Noah Laba?

The first question is whether or not Noah Laba will make the team (as of the writing of this post, he was still practicing with the club). I want to reiterate very strongly that Noah Laba is not going to beat down the doors as a top-line center. That being said, he’s strong on and off the puck, he’s responsible, and most importantly, he has a brighter future than Juuso Parssinen, his competition.

I like Laba to make the team. What’s imperative to me is if he makes the team, the team must be patient with him and put him in a position to succeed. We’ve seen so many Rangers struggle early in their Rangers tenures, only to be healthy scratched into irrelevancy and lose all their confidence. Laba should be given every opportunity to succeed as a member of the Rangers bottom 6 forwards, including and especially if he makes rookie mistakes. 

We’ll see if Laba makes the team, but look for him to be an NHL regular sooner rather than later. Given the age of the majority of the roster, that’s a huge plus for the Rangers.

Who exactly is Juuso Parssinen?

I’m not convinced the Rangers thought they were getting any more than a plug-and-play kind of player when they acquired Juuso Parssinen in the Ryan Lindgren/Jimmy Vesey trade. Sure they did choose to acquire him, but they didn’t give up any huge assets, and he seemed like a classic “13th forward to see if we have anything here” kind of guy.

Fast forward to the offseason, the Rangers chose to keep him in the organization, then failed to acquire a better third-line center. Now Parssinen is being outplayed by Laba, but there’s still a good chance he makes the team and plays a decent amount as well. 

For Parssinen, I’m not looking to see 50 points, I’m not looking to see gaudy stats, I’m looking to see responsibility. Sure, that might be boring, but third liners are not typically too exciting. For Parssinen to turn into an NHL regular, he needs to prove he can be counted on. Remember, he’s still young. This is his chance. 

Brett Berard is another wild card

Brett Berard seems like the perfect Mike Sullivan player, which will surely help his chances of making the team. Like Laba, we don’t know if he’ll make the team out of camp, but he will definitely get his NHL chances this season regardless. 

Berard’s career will be made or broken by his hustle and motor. He plays like he’s a dog chasing a bone and you never miss him when he’s on the ice. There’s a big need for grit and hustle in the Rangers bottom 6 forwards and Berard can certainly provide some of that. This doesn’t feel like any kind of a make or break season for him, but it would be nice to see him become an NHL regular. 

Taylor Raddysh….why?

I have no thoughts on Taylor Raddysh. I’m not entirely convinced he’s real, or if he’s even going to be a regular among the Rangers bottom 6 forwards. 

Can last year’s fourth line steady the Rangers bottom 6 forwards?

I’m lumping Edstrom, Sam Carrick, and Matt Rempe together in the Rangers bottom 6 forwards because they should be the fourth line as long as they’re all healthy. This feels like a big season for Rempe and Edstrom to establish themselves as 82 game players and can be relied upon for more than just big bodies. Especially Edstrom, who could be a valuable penalty killer and critical piece of the Rangers bottom 6 forwards. 

With Carrick, we know who he is and his primary job is to put his unit in the best position possible every night. I don’t think we’re going to see him score many more overtime winners, but him even having the opportunity last season showed how much trust the previous staff had in him. He now has to earn that same trust with Mike Sullivan and the rest of the coaching staff.

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