GREENBURGH – The day after their eighth shutout loss of the season, against the rival Islanders on Saturday, there was reason for optimism at Rangers practice Sunday.
Adam Fox, who has been on long-term injured reserve and has missed the last 13 games with an upper-body injury, practiced Sunday, and he was out of the red, no-contact jersey he’d been wearing. Fox instead was in a regular, full-contact jersey, indicating he is ready to return to action for the Rangers, who can surely use him, especially on the back end of their power play.
“It’s great,’’ coach Mike Sullivan said of seeing Fox practicing full go. “It obviously suggests he’s that much closer. He was full capacity today, we worked him on the power play, he took full contact. We’ll see how he responds, and we’ll make decisions.’’
Could he play Monday, when the Rangers visit the Carolina Hurricanes in the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C.?
“I would consider him day to day at this point,’’ Sullivan said.
“It gives you energy, and it gives you a little bit of spark to seeing him… in a regular jersey, and even getting reps on the power play,’’ forward Mika Zibanejad said. “Definitely a boost for us.’’
Fox, the Jericho native, is the Rangers’ No. 1 defenseman, and the point man on their first power play unit. And while the defense has hung in there without him, the power play has clearly missed him. In the 27 games Fox played before taking a hit into the boards by Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel and leaving the game in the third period on Nov. 29, the Rangers’ power play scored 20.9% of the time (13-for-62) with Fox as the primary point man.
Since he went down, the power play has gone 5-for-34 (14.7%), including going 0-for-3 Saturday, when it came up empty on two opportunities in the final five minutes and 19 seconds, and the team trying to rally from a 1-0 deficit.
Forward Vincent Trocheck, when asked about the power play’s failures Saturday, said, “I don’t love it right now.’’
To be fair, the power play is also missing a key contributor in captain J.T. Miller, who is on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. But not having Fox at the point has been a major problem. When Fox first went down, Sullivan tried a power play unit that had five forwards and no defensemen on it, using Artemi Panarin at the point. But the group struggled, and allowed a couple of shorthanded goals.
Sullivan eventually replaced Panarin with Zibanejad, and that had some immediate success, as the group went 2-for-2 with Zibanejad at the point for the 5-4 overtime win over Montreal Dec. 13. But then Zibanejad was suspended for the next game, against Anaheim, because he was late for a meeting. And the power play went 0-for-8 over the next two games.
The last five games, Sullivan has used rookie defenseman Scott Morrow at the point, and the power play has gone 3-for-16 (18.75%).
When he left the lineup, Fox, 27, was the second-leading scorer on the team, with 26 points (3 goals, 23 assists) in 27 games. After a blah season in 2024-25, Fox had been having a bounce back year, and according to Zibanejad, whenever he returns, the Rangers will be getting back “one of the best defensemen in the world.’’
“The poise he has, the decision-making, the way he sees the ice – and obviously, just being a defenseman, being comfortable on the blue line – it makes a big difference, especially like if you compare that to myself and ‘Bread’ (Panarin),’’ Zibanejad said. “He has skills and the poise that very few in this world have.’’
But it isn’t just the power play that Fox figures to improve when he returns. Before his injury, Fox had partnered with Vladislav Gavrikov to form one of the top defensive pairs in the league. With that duo on ice – and almost always matched up against the opposing team’s top forward line – the Rangers had outshot opponents 199-179, out-chanced them 223-146, and outscored them 16-11.
As much as the Rangers need Fox to help them in their offensive game, he’ll help them at the defensive end, too.
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Miller, who has been out since taking a shoulder-to-shoulder hit from Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler Dec. 20, skated by himself Sunday, Sullivan said… Fourth-line center Sam Carrick missed practice Sunday because he was ill, the team said.
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.