When the Rangers resume their season Saturday against the Islanders at UBS Arena, they will get a boost from the return of Adam Fox, their No. 1 defenseman and top power-play point man.
Putting Fox back in the lineup instantly will improve their power play along with their five-on-five play. The Jericho native was their second-leading scorer when he went on long-term injured reserve with an upper-body injury after a Nov. 29 game against Tampa Bay.
It should be noted that in the 12 games Fox missed, the Rangers (19-16-4) managed to stay afloat, going 6-4-2. And it should be acknowledged that part of the reason they were able to do that was because Braden Schneider stepped into Fox’s spot on the top defense pair and held his own.
Schneider, 24, paired with Fox’s regular partner, Vladislav Gavrikov, to match up against opposing teams’ top offensive players. He said he viewed his time playing in Fox’s spot as a chance to grow as a player.
“The opportunity to play with Vlad and play against [top] players, I think we’ve done a decent job,’’ Schneider said before the Rangers’ 7-3 win over Washington in their last game before the NHL’s holiday break. “It’s been a confidence boost, and I’m hoping that I can take it into the next half and build off of it and be a better player from it.’’
A first-round pick in 2020 (No. 19 overall), Schneider is in his fifth season in the NHL. The righthanded shooter has been on the third defense pair most of the time, playing behind Fox and Jacob Trouba or, for the past year, Will Borgen, as the No. 3 right defenseman. But first-year Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said Schneider has been more than just a third-pair defenseman this season.
“If you actually watch the game and watch how he’s being deployed, he might line up in the lineup sheet in the third pair, but he’s not playing third-pair minutes; he’s not playing third-pair situations,’’ Sullivan said. “He’s been moved all around. He was on the second power play [earlier in the season], for example. He’s been moved [onto] the left side, in the top four, when we’re defending leads or on the penalty kill or things of that nature.’’
A quick look at ice time confirms that. Schneider’s average time on ice of 19 minutes and 46 seconds is third-most among Rangers defensemen, behind Fox (23:50) and Gavrikov (23:49), though some of Schneider’s TOI has been inflated by his playing on the top pair during Fox’s absence. His average 2:02 on the penalty kill is second-most, behind Gavrikov (2:28) and just ahead of Borgen (2:00).
But another indicator of how much the Rangers value Schneider is the fact that a year ago, when they were negotiating a trade for J.T. Miller with Vancouver, the Canucks reportedly wanted Schneider, a native of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, as part of the return. The Rangers didn’t want to part with Schneider, though, and ultimately sent prospect defenseman Victor Mancini to Vancouver instead.
Schneider’s scoring is down this season — he has one goal and six assists in 39 games after averaging 5.3 goals and 14.0 assists in the previous three full seasons — but the Rangers in general have not scored much. Schneider acknowledged that in his role on the top pair, he’s spent more time focusing on making sure he’s got the defensive end taken care of before looking to join the rush. He said he’d like to produce more offensively.
“Definitely a lot of my energy has gone into when [things] do happen in our end, that I’m trying to get a kill,’’ he said. “But I think you got to play the full game . . . When you’re in that spot, you want to be able to produce.’’
The two-year, $4.4 million bridge contract Schneider signed in 2024 will expire over the summer, making him a restricted free agent. If the Rangers still rate Borgen ahead of him, it will be interesting to see how much they will be willing to pay Schneider if he’s still slotted in as the No. 3 right defenseman.
What happens the rest of the season, whether the Rangers are in the hunt for the playoffs or out, whether they are buyers or sellers, probably will affect that.
Borgen has no-trade protection for this season; Schneider doesn’t. So if the Rangers decide they need scoring help and if they think rookie Scott Morrow is ready to be a full-time NHLer, might they be willing to move Schneider in a major trade for a goal-scorer?
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.