Rangers report cards: Grading rookies, including Gabe Perreault
If you’re any player, much less a rookie, and plan to earn the trust of Mike Sullivan, you’d better be able to play both sides of the puck or your opportunity on Broadway will be short-lived. That much was made clear in Sullivan’s first season as New York Rangers coach in 2025-26.
Brennan Othmann and Brett Berard learned this the hard way. Othmann ended up being traded by the Rangers to the Calgary Flames on March 6, while Berard had a lost season spent primarily in the American Hockey League at Hartford.
But Noah Laba, Matthew Robertson, and, eventually, Gabe Perreault, earned the coach’s trust and the rookies were rewarded with patience and opportunity as lineup regulars with the Rangers.
So, let’s grade those three Rangers rookies here, along with defenseman Scott Morrow. We’ll hand out separate report cards for Jaroslav Chmelar and late-season call-ups Adam Sykora, Dylan Garand and Drew Fortescue in a follow-up article.
NOTE: the players are listed in alphabetical order.
Noah Laba: B-
Laba earned Sullivan’s trust right away, in rookie camp, then training camp, and it wasn’t surprising when the 22-year-old made the opening-night roster — nor remained a lineup regular throughout the season. Simply, the 2022 fourth-round pick plays the game the right way. He’s hard on the forecheck and backcheck, plays a simple North-South game, brings much needed speed to the lineup, is reliable in the face-off circle, and has a non-stop motor. Laba finished 10th on the Rangers with 24 points (nine goals, 15 assists) in 74 games, won 50.8 percent of his face-offs, scored three power-play goals, and was one of the top forwards on the penalty kill. He had an expected goal share 5v5 of 45.46 percent, per Natural Stat Trick, but the Rangers outscored the opposition 29-26 with him on the ice. Laba appears best suited for a bottom-six role, and likely has a limited offensive skill set. But he should be a keeper on the third or fourth line, a member of the Rangers core, moving forward.
Scott Morrow: C-
Morrow arrived last summer from the Carolina Hurricanes as part of the K’Andre Miller trade, and his first season with the Rangers organizations felt largely disappointing. The 23-year-old defenseman spent most of the season in the minors with Hartford, and played 29 games with the Rangers, mostly when Adam Fox twice was sidelined for extended periods due to injury. Morrow mostly played on the third defense pair and totaled six assists, rarely flashing that higher-end offensive skill he’s known for. Still, Sullivan often praised Morrow, who had a 50.38 percent xGF 5v5, for his creativity and vision. However, he didn’t trust Morrow to run the power play when Fox was out. And if that didn’t tell you his true feelings, than Sullivan stating at season’s end that the Rangers need better puck-moving defensemen behind Fox certainly did. A 2024-25 AHL All-Star with the Chicago Wolves, Morrow also disappointed with Hartford, where he totaled 19 points (five goals, 14 assists) and was minus-16 in 34 games, albeit for a bad team.
Gabe Perreault: B-
Though he played only 49 games with the Rangers, Perreault was the top rookie scorer on the team with 27 points (12 goals, 15 assists). Unlike Laba, the 2023 first-round pick didn’t break camp with the big club, instead starting his first full pro season in Hartford, where he scored 10 goals and totaled 17 points in 20 games. The 20-year-old didn’t exactly light it up with the Rangers upon arriving in the NHL, but he did do a lot of the right things — keeping up with his defensive responsibilities, winning puck battles along the boards, and showing he wasn’t afraid to get to the front of the net offensively. Things really took off for Perreault, when he landed on the top line with Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafreniere after the Olympic break. Over the final 23 games, Perreault had 19 points (nine goals, 10 assists). That included his first NHL hat trick on April 4 against the Detroit Red Wings and another three-point game (two goals, one assist) on March 2 against the Columbus Blue Jackets. He’s an incredibly important piece to the puzzle moving forward in the Rangers core.
Matthew Robertson: B-
One of the most pleasant developments for the Rangers this season was the emergence of Robertson as a reliable member of the defense corps. Even though he started the season as the seventh defenseman, Robertson soon replaced Urho Vaakanainen in the lineup, and never relinquished his hold on a top-six role. The 25-year-old averaged 17:24 TOI over 72 games, mostly on the third pair, though he also saw time on the left side of the second defense pairing, too, as well as on the penalty kill. Robertson had a surprising 49.79 expected goal share 5v5, and closed out the season with six goals and 18 points. One of the true highlights of the season was his end-to-end rush to score the game-winner in overtime against the Boston Bruins on Jan. 26.
