Team Sweden Reportedly Disrespects Boston Bruins Elias Lindholm: Per Elliotte Friedman
Why Rangers long offseason might be blessing in disguise for Adam Fox…
One would be hard-pressed to find anyone around the New York Rangers – players, front office, fans – who are happy that the Blueshirts missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs, capping a disastrous season that followed a Presidents Trophy-winning effort in 2023-24.
Whether admitted or not, though, the rare extended summer might just pay big benefits for one of the club’s pillars next season.
Team Sweden Reportedly Disrespects Boston Bruins Elias Lindholm: Per Elliotte Friedman
Top defenseman Adam Fox was not bad in 2024-25, finishing with 10 goals and 51 assists to go with a plus-9 rating in 74 games. As usual, underlying metrics showed him to be an elite possession driver, with the 2021 Norris Trophy winner posting a career-best 55.7 expected goal share, per Natural Stat Trick.
Despite the strong stats, however, something was – and has been – off with Fox. Never known for his skating, Fox nevertheless seemed to lack jump and confidence, less sure of himself than the version that calmly controlled play at the top of the offensive zone on power plays, so easily able to overcome his lack of quickness with smarts and outstanding hockey sense in seasons past.
Team Sweden Reportedly Disrespects Boston Bruins Elias Lindholm: Per Elliotte Friedman
Related: Rangers young defenseman is ‘built to adapt,’ could be key to offseason strategy
Alarming 4 Nations performance exposed Adam Fox’s diminished play
NHL: 4 Nations Face Off-USA vs Finland
David Kirouac-Imagn Images
The dip in Fox’s game was never more apparent than in his nightmarish 4 Nations Faceoff performance in February. Among the first six players selected to the United States squad last summer, Fox turned out to be one of the more disappointing U.S. players in the tournament, when he struggled to defend against some of the best players in the world.
Team Sweden Reportedly Disrespects Boston Bruins Elias Lindholm: Per Elliotte Friedman
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His lack of speed and mobility was sorely exposed, and the high-level hockey mind wasn’t nearly enough to make up for it this time, as it has been in allowing him to grow into one of the best all-around defensemen in the NHL over six seasons. Fox didn’t record a point and was minus-2 in four games. Team USA coach Mike Sullivan, who’s now also Fox’s coach with the Rangers, played him for 17:05 TOI in the tournament final that was decided in overtime against Canada – the lowest mark for any U.S. defenseman.
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So what’s wrong? It doesn’t make much sense to suggest that Fox’s ability to think the game at a such a high level is somehow in decline. What’s much more likely is that the problem was physical – and could be solved by the extra down time the Rangers
are getting this summer.
