The New York Rangers spent the summer reshaping their blue line, but none of that changes the biggest question hanging over their season: Adam Fox’s health.
When Fox is in the lineup, the Rangers are simply a different team. Last season showed that in a harsh way.
New York stumbled to one of the worst records in the NHL, and the injuries to Igor Shesterkin and Fox were a major reason why. The Rangers went 8-16-3 without Fox, and the drop-off was obvious every night he was unavailable.
His absence didn’t just take away offense. It stripped away one of the league’s best all-around defensemen.
That’s why the summer additions of Marcus Pettersson and Sean Durzi matter. The hope is that both players can ease the load on Fox, cut down his minutes, and help keep him healthier over the course of the season.
If that happens, the Rangers could get more than just durability. They could get a monster year.
Fox’s 2024-25 season was still elite despite the injuries. He played 55 games and put up 53 points, including nine goals, which worked out to 0.96 points per game. Among NHL defensemen, that tied him for fifth with Rasmus Dahlin and Darren Raddysh, trailing only Evan Bouchard, Zach Werenski, Cale Makar, and Quinn Hughes.
And the production goes beyond one season. Of every player selected in the 2016 NHL Draft, Fox ranks eighth in points with 397, and he’s done it in just 461 games.
Patrik Laine is the next closest in games played at 537. Fox is also the only defenseman in that group.
Mikhail Sergachev is next among blueliners with 348 points, and he’s done that in more than 600 games.
His career scoring rate tells the same story. Fox sits at 0.79 points per game, and only seven players from that draft class have a better mark: Auston Matthews, Matthew Tkachuk, Alex DeBrincat, Jesper Bratt, Clayton Keller, and Patrik Laine.
The defensive numbers are just as stark. With Fox in the lineup, the Rangers were first in the league in limiting high-danger chances.
Without him, they fell to 21st. With Fox available, they allowed 2.63 goals per game.
Without him, that number jumped to 3.68, though Shesterkin’s absence likely played a part in that change as well.
If Fox stays healthy, the expectation is the same as it’s always been since he arrived on Broadway: elite two-way play, power-play quarterbacking, heavy minutes, and the kind of trust that puts him on the ice in overtime and in late-game situations. The difference this season is that Durzi could help bring that workload down from nearly 24 minutes a night last year to something closer to 20.
That kind of shift could do more than preserve Fox. It could unlock a career year.
The projection here is 80 games, 12 goals, 65 assists, and 77 points. The reasoning is straightforward: the Rangers should have more shooters around him, and that should help his power-play production climb. Pavel Dorofeyev taking Artemi Panarin’s spot on the ice should change the look of that unit, and Fox should be feeding shooters instead of passers.
There’s also the reality that Fox has taken a lot of wear over the years. He’s only 28, but the mileage is real, and a missed game here and there would not be a surprise.
Still, the ceiling is obvious. If he’s healthy, Fox has a real shot to top 80 points for the first time.
And the bigger picture is hard to miss. Adam Fox is an elite defenseman in the National Hockey League.
The Rangers are much better with him than without him. Complaints about him being “too slow” “too small” “not physical enough” are about preference, not production.
He’s one of the league’s best at driving offense and one of its best at suppressing it. If he had hit free agency this summer, he would have been in line for the $20 million per year that the Colorado Avalanche gave Cale Makar.
This is the best defenseman the Rangers have had since Brian Leetch.
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Mike Sullivan liked what he saw from mits, especially the way he blended physical play with offensive awareness while showing he can handle NHL pace. The rookie said he felt comfortable with the speed of the game and valued the chance to play at Madison Square Garden, which only adds to the sense that the opening-night roster question is becoming more real by the day. [Read more 🡒]