The Rangers 3rd line has been a bit of a conundrum through the first six games of the season. Individually, all of Noah Laba, Conor Sheary, Taylor Raddysh, and Juuso Parssinen have been fine, though Parssinen’s season long numbers look worse because one of his two games was pretty rough. The problem isn’t with individual performance, but more with cohesion and role. Compounding matters is the Rangers’ inability to score, which is putting more focus on the third line to provide tertiary offense.

What is the role for the Rangers 3rd line?

Initially projected to be a shutdown line with Juuso Parssinen at center, the Rangers 3rd line had to be re-evaluated after Noah Laba stormed onto the scene and forced Mike Sullivan to re-think his plans. Laba is a solid two-way center, but putting shutdown responsibilities on a rookie isn’t the best path to success.

That shutdown role has, interestingly enough, shifted to the JT Miller line. Miller was matched against Conor McDavid at home. Sullivan tried to get him out against Auston Matthews last night, and when he couldn’t it was Mika Zibanejad who was out there. Clearly the Rangers 3rd line is not going to be a shutdown line at the moment. This is probably a good thing in the long run, but for now it creates a few concerns.

Notably, the Rangers still aren’t scoring, and the Rangers 3rd line has played a role in these struggles. As a collective unit, the Rangers 3rd line has a scoring line of 2-4-6, with goals coming from Parssinen and Raddysh. Laba has a pair of assists. They’ve also received primarily offensive zone starts, which to me signals this line should be a sheltered scoring line, much like the Zuccarello-Brassard-Pouliot line in 2013-2014.

Given how well the Edstrom-Carrick-Rempe line has played, the Rangers can afford this luxury. Ideally the Rangers 3rd line is able to dominate against weaker depth, forcing teams to take notice. Right now, despite a respectable 2-4-6 as a line, they aren’t forcing teams to defend them. Instead, teams are focusing on the top-six, and if the third line beats them, so be it.

New personnel needed to change roles

The Rangers 3rd line has not been a shutdown line to start the season, and to be honest, that’s preferred. The new NHL needs three offensive lines, and committing to a second defensive line didn’t seem ideal. Problem is, the current iteration of the Rangers 3rd line does not have enough offensive talent to truly be a sheltered scoring line.

This is the strongest argument for Gabe Perreault to be called up, as he has that offensive skill set the Rangers need in their top-nine forwards. Would Mike Sullivan put two rookies together in a sheltered role? In all fairness, probably not, and not many coaches would anyway. There is some wiggle room in retooling the Rangers third line by borrowing from the top-six, specifically Will Cuylle. This only works when the Rangers are healthy and only if Perreault shows he’s ready.

We won’t see changes like this soon, since Sully is still figuring out what he has in each of his players. At some point, we could see Perreault up to play with JT Miller and Mika Zibanejad, with the Panarin-Trocheck-Lafreniere line remaining intact. That would leave Cuylle-Laba-3RW, which is two-thirds of a solid Rangers 3rd line that can score, defend, and be pesky. Sheary may have a better fit on that line than in the top-six, as it does appear he has a higher standing with Sully than both Parssinen and Taylor Raddysh.

Brennan Othmann is a wild card here, and there’s always a chance he figures it out, despite trade rumors, and finds a home on an offensive zone sheltered Rangers 3rd line.

There’s time

Despite three losses, the Rangers are playing well. The process looks good, and good process leads to good results. The Blueshirts have just been snakebitten. A new Rangers 3rd line that has more offensive punch would certainly help things, if only to draw some defensive attention away from the top six.

It’s only October. We will see some lineup changes soon enough. Let the players figure out the new system and let the coaches figure out the players. The wins will come.

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