Time for Rangers to evaluate the Adam Fox-Carson Soucy defensive pairing
Rangers defenseman Adam Fox. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Before the puck dropped for Monday night’s game between the Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers were six points behind the idle Montreal Canadiens for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with six games remaining.
Mathematically, they remained alive for a long-shot bid for the 16-team playoff field. But with the way Montreal (five straight wins) and the Rangers (2-2-1 in the five games before Monday) have been playing, there is little hard evidence to suggest the Blueshirts are going to be able to make up that ground.
So the prudent thing for the Rangers would be to look beyond the final games of this season. They should be looking at these games in the context of making decisions for next season — as in, what do they need to correct or upgrade to make sure they aren’t in this same situation a year from now?
General manager Chris Drury is going to have to make some decisions over the summer, and these final two weeks should be used to gather information on which young players can help next season, which older players can’t, and what he needs to add to the roster to get the Rangers back into the playoffs and back onto the short list of Stanley Cup contenders in 2025-26.
One thing Drury and whoever the coach is next season — in the event Peter Laviolette doesn’t return — will have to figure out is the best choice to be the defense partner for Adam Fox. Is that player currently on the roster?
After playing most of his six NHL seasons with longtime friend Ryan Lindgren as his partner, Fox, the Jericho native and former Norris Trophy winner, needed a new partner after Lindgren was dealt to Colorado last month. For the last seven games, Fox has been paired with newcomer Carson Soucy, who was acquired at the deadline from Vancouver.
Needing a new partner is an adjustment for Fox. He and Lindgren have been friends since they were 16 and playing together with the U.S. National Development Program in Michigan. They were roommates for a time in New York.
“It was kind of a weird situation,’’ Fox said. “I was hurt [on injured reserve with an upper-body injury], not really here during that time when he was gone. But you play six years with the same person, you get familiar. He’s someone that I’m close with off the ice. So it was definitely a transition.’’
Though Fox and K’Andre Miller were an effective pair at the start of the season, Miller over the past few months formed a solid partnership with Will Borgen, and Laviolette opted to keep them together. Fox partnered with Urho Vaakanainen for a while, but Laviolette eventually paired him with the 6-5, 208-pound Soucy.
“He’s a bigger body and a bit more — thinks the game a little bit more defensive,’’ Laviolette said. “Adam thinks it a little bit more offensively. The numbers have been good with them there. I think [Soucy’s] done a good job. He keeps it simple. He’s played good defense, and he’s delivered some offense for us as well.”
Soucy had a goal, two assists and an even plus/minus rating in 11 games with the Rangers before Monday.
“He plays a pretty similar game to Lindy in terms of the simplicity and going back on pucks and breakouts and everything like that,’’ Fox said. “So I think we’ve done a good job of finding that familiarity.’’
“He’s obviously a pretty special player,’’ Soucy said of Fox. “I try to let him do his thing most of the time. [I have to] be ready to back him up, because obviously he can bring that offensive ability.”
Soucy said there’s a little more to playing with a player like Fox than simply staying back and letting Fox join the rush. But, he said, at the start of the partnership, he’s preferring to play cautiously as the two players get to know each other better.
But whether Soucy can be the long-term answer for the question of Fox’s long-term partner remains to be seen. It’s one of the things Drury will hope to find out over the last six games.
Notes & quotes: D K’Andre Miller, who missed practice Sunday because he was sick, did not dress. Zac Jones took his spot . . . Right wing Matt Rempe returned after missing four games with an upper-body injury . . . Igor Shesterkin started in goal for the 12th time in the last 13 games . . . Before the game, Jonathan Quick was presented with the Rod Gilbert Mr. Ranger Award, which goes to the player “who best honors Rod’s legacy by exemplifying leadership qualities both on and off the ice and making a significant humanitarian contribution to his community.”
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
