The New York Rangers offseason carries on, and with it, we look back on the season that happened. Giving the next grade for one of the Blueshirts' consistent top performers every single season, it was much the same for Adam Fox.
The only difference with this season and season's past, is that No. 23 saw a lot more time off the ice than usual. Let's go over it.
Expectations
Going into the 2025-26 season, there was a major change to the Rangers blueline. Ryan Lindgren, who was Fox's left-hand man for a considerable chunk of his NHL career, was off to Seattle to play with the Kraken. That means that Fox needed a new partner.
Rangers President and General Manager Chris Drury went out in free agency and grabbed the absolute best left-handed defenseman that was used to the amount of time and expectations that come with that first-pairing. Thus, Vladislav Gavrikov became a Blueshirt and the pair were set to put up some historic numbers together.
At least, that's what we thought.
Performance
Fox had a solid season, but it was a strange one. As mentioned above, Fox found himself on the sidelines for a considerable amount of time, and even when he was on the ice, he did not seem like himself at times. His skating was uncomfortable, and his playstyle was even more cautious than usual to alleviate the need for chasing speedy forwards.
In 55 games, the defenseman from Jericho, New York had nine goals and 44 assists for 53 points. This is the first time since 2020-21, which also saw Fox playing 55 games in the Covid-shortened season, that he did not finish with double-digit goals.
But, he still managed to nearly be a point-per-game player in that time-frame. It is hard to imagine it would have been any different if he did not get in injured in the middle of the season.
Grade: B+
Where does he go from here?
This upcoming season, or even longer, are going to be very interesting for the Rangers. Fox is going through another iteration of a rebuild, or retool, and there is no end in sight.
He, along with many of the players are frustrated with what is happening in the locker room.
Fox is going to have to once again be the catalyst on the blueline, and hopefully these injuries do not linger to 2026-27. Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider tried to step up in his absence, but it was not nearly the same kind of effect on the game.
This Fox/Gavrikov pairing is going to be very interesting to watch after their first full-ish season together. Can they improve on it next season?
Add us as a preferred source on Google