Rangers stock report: which players rising, falling since Adam Fox injury
Though he remains on LTIR with an upper-body injury, it sure was good to see Adam Fox practicing with his New York Rangers teammates Thursday morning in St. Louis. True, the star defenseman wore a red no-contact jersey, but it feels like a safe bet that his return to the lineup is closer to happening than not.
The Rangers are 4-3-2 in nine games since Fox sustained his injury in a 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Nov. 29. That’s not far off from the middling 13-12-2 record with Fox in the lineup. But there’s no denying that they miss the 2020-21 Norris Trophy winner, who leads Rangers defensemen with 26 points (three goals, 23 assists) in 27 games and plays in every important game situation, averaging 23:50 TOI.
After the injury, coach Mike Sullivan stressed that no single player could replace Fox, that it takes a collective effort to do so.
Since Fox impacts the game on every imaginable level, let’s break down the latest Rangers stock report — which players are on the way up, and who’s headed the other direction during his absence.
Braden Schneider – Stock Up
Braden Schneider bumped up from the third defense pair to replace Fox on the top pair alongside Vladislav Gavrikov. The 24-year-old handles the increased responsibility against the other team’s top players extremely well, even though the Rangers are outscored 8-3 at 5v5 with Schneider on the ice the past nine games. His analytics aren’t fantastic and remain about the same as his career norm — he’s simply not the play driver Fox is — but Schneider’s held his own defensively, and certainly doesn’t look out of place averaging 22:51 TOI, about four minutes more per game than before the Fox injury.
Matthew Robertson — Stock Up
Matthew Robertson has four points (one goal, three assists) in Fox’s absence, more than any other Rangers defenseman. That includes two assists in an overtime win against the Montreal Canadiens, when he logged an NHL career-high 20:32 TOI. The 24-year-old started the season as a depth defenseman and is now a lineup regular, an underrated success story this season for the Rangers. His 61.33 percent expected goal share since Fox’s injury is tops among Rangers defensemen, per Natural Stat Trick.
Five-forward power play – Stock Down
For the first eight games during Fox’s absence, Sullivan stubbornly stuck with a five-forward look on the top power-play unit. That grouping included staples Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, J.T. Miller, and Vincent Trocheck, and either Will Cuylle or Alexis Lafreniere. Panarin replaced Fox as the PP1 quarterback, and eventually switched places with Zibanejad. The unit generated some good looks, but didn’t score a single power-play goal, and surrendered three short-handed goals. With Panarin out of the lineup due to an illness Thursday, rookie defenseman Scott Morrow joined PP1, though the unit again failed to score in the 2-1 OT win over the St. Louis Blues.
Noah Laba – Stock Up
Noah Laba is not a defenseman, but the rookie center stands out here because he has a hand in two of the three power-play goals scored by the Rangers during Fox’s absence. Skating on the second unit, Laba scored a PPG to kickstart the Rangers rally from 3-0 down against the Canadiens, and assisted on Gabe Perreault’s power-play goal against the Blues, which tied that game 1-1. The 22-year-old is tied for third on the Rangers with three assists in these nine games without Fox.
Urho Vaakanainen – Stock Down
With Fox out of the lineup, it appeared to be an opportunity for Urho Vaakanainen to re-establish himself on the Rangers defense corps. The 26-year-old went from lineup regular to spare part earlier this season when Robertson passed him on the depth chart. And then with Fox out, he’s played just two of nine games, with Morrow the latest to get a chance on the third defense pair ahead of him. Vaakanainen was minus-3 in his two games, averaging 11:31 TOI, though he did ring a shot off the post against the Anaheim Ducks, his former club, Monday.
Vladislav Gavrikov – Stock Up
Though you can’t overlook the fact that the Rangers are outscored 10-3 at 5v5 with Gavrikov on the ice these past nine games, it doesn’t tell the whole story. The 30-year-old has been a horse for the Rangers, who lean on him even more with Fox out. He’s averaging a team-high 25:16 TOI, even running point on the second power-play unit. He has two goals and an assist with Fox sidelined, including the overtime winner against the Dallas Stars. Gavrikov also set the screen Thursday for Miller to wire home another OT winning goal against the Blues.
