Grading four Rangers on Team USA after OT loss to Canada in 4 Nations championship game
Adam Fox, Chris Kreider, J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck returned to the New York Rangers on Friday after one of the biggest disappointments of their respective hockey careers. All four played for Team USA at TD Garden in Boston on Thursday night, when the Americans lost 3-2 in overtime to Canada in the championship game at the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off.
None of the four had a tournament to remember. Kreider, who was a healthy scratch for the first two games, was the only one to score a goal or record a point. He and Miller were the only players among the four to finish on the positive side in plus-minus.
Now it’s back to the NHL grind, beginning with a road game against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, followed by a visit to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday. The Rangers resume play three points out of the second wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference with 27 games remaining.
Here’s a report card on the four Rangers who played for the United States at the 4 Nations.
Adam Fox (4 games; 0-0-0, -2)
Grade: C
Fox is one of the NHL’s top half-dozen defensemen, but he didn’t look like one at the 4 Nations event.
Maybe it was playing a second-pair role (mostly with Noah Hanifin of the Vegas Golden Knights) and quarterbacking the second power-play unit rather than the first one as he does with the Rangers. Maybe it was the fact that Team USA’s defense didn’t have much of a physical presence, especially after Charlie McAvoy of the Boston Bruins was injured and had to miss the championship game.
Whatever the reason, Fox rarely looked like a No. 1 defenseman, the role he’s played with the Rangers throughout his career. He was on the ice for Canada’s game-tying goal by Sam Bennett in the second period and was late picking up Mitchell Marner in overtime, allowing Marner to find Connor McDavid for the OT winner. That left him at minus-2 for the game and the tournament.
The Rangers hope Fox doesn’t have any carryover after what has to be a disappointing performance at the 4 Nations.
Chris Kreider (2 games; 1-0-1, +1)
Grade: C
Kreider got off to an electric start, scoring on his first shift against Sweden on Monday after sitting out the first two games as a healthy scratch. He played 17:01 and scored the only U.S. goal in a meaningless 2-1 loss — the Americans had already clinched a berth in the championship game,
That performance earned Kreider a spot in the lineup for the championship game; he replaced Kyle Connor, who was a healthy scratch, and played mostly on the fourth line — when he played at all.
Kreider played only 11 shifts and saw just 6:25 of ice time against Canada, the lowest of any U.S. player in both categories. He did have one shot on goal and three hits, but with only one minor penalty in the game (a tripping call on Trocheck midway through the second period), all but two minutes were played at even strength. Coach Mike Sullivan didn’t put him on the ice for the final 4:29 of regulation and all 8:18 of overtime.
It’s been a disappointing season for Kreider. The Rangers are hoping his goal in the 4 Nations will be a spark.
J.T. Miller (4 games; 0-0-0, +1)
Grade: B
Miller played mostly as a third-line left wing and didn’t have a point in four games. But he compensated for his lack of scoring in other ways.
The recently reacquired forward was a physical presence throughout the tournament, finishing with 13 hits. He was involved in the third of three fights in the opening nine seconds of the 3-1 round-robin victory against Canada. Miller also played a role in Dylan Larkin’s game-winner in that game, despite not getting an assist — by going to the net on a 2-on-1 break, he gave the Detroit Red Wings’ captain the time and space he needed to score the winning goal.
He was also a monster in the face-off circle, winning 61.0 percent of his draws — including seven of 10 in the championship game.
Miller finished plus-1 in the four games, although he was on the ice in the second period when Canada’s Sam Bennett tied the score 2-2. All in all, he was the Rangers’ most impactful player despite not having a point in the tournament.
Vincent Trocheck (4 games; 0-0-0, -1)
Grade: D
The Rangers are hoping that Trocheck didn’t come back from the 4 Nations tournament with any physical issues. He’s won more than 60 percent of his NHL face-offs this season but lost all four in the championship game and won just 46.7 percent during the tournament.
He also played just 10:03 in the championship game, the third-lowest total ice time on Team USA, and averaged 11:11 in the four games. That’s just over half of his 21:19 average TOI with the Rangers this season.
Trocheck appeared to injure his hand/wrist in the loss to Sweden — The Athletic, citing Team USA sources, reported that he sustained a broken finger. But even before that, he didn’t look like the player Rangers fans are used to seeing.
Admittedly, as the fourth-line center, Sullivan and his staff weren’t counting on Trocheck to put up big offensive numbers, and the veteran center was more than willing to take on a lesser role. But aside from some effective penalty-killing shifts (often with Miller), Trocheck barely made an impression during the tournament.
