Urho Vaakanainen crucial part of Rangers' plan to address loss of Adam Fox to injury

Losing your top defenseman while in the middle of a desperate battle for a playoff spot is a huge problem.

Adam Fox was the Rangers’ leader in ice time, averaging more than 23 minutes. He was the team’s second-leading scorer with 48 points (43 assists) in 58 games. He ran the point on the top power-play unit, killed penalties, was second on the team in takeaways (30) and was one of only three players to average more than 15 minutes with a positive plus/minus rating (plus-5).

But the Jericho native and former Norris Trophy winner will be out for a while with what looked like a serious injury to his left shoulder suffered Tuesday during the third period of the Rangers’ 5-1 road win over the Islanders. So the Rangers, who hosted the Maple Leafs on Friday night at the Garden, are going to have to find ways of replacing all of Fox’s contributions to the team. It won’t be a one-man solution.

“It will be just more like a collective effort as a team,’’ defenseman Urho Vaakanainen said. “Obviously, I don’t think anyone, as a player, can really take his spot, so to speak. He’s an elite player, one of the best defensemen in the league. So it’s more of a next-man-up mentality and try to play better as a team.’’

Plan A to replace Fox on the power play was to go with a first unit composed of five forwards, with Mika Zibanejad stepping in for Fox at the point. Will Borgen likely will pick up most of Fox’s minutes on the penalty kill. At even strength, the Rangers hope Vaakanainen will be part of the solution.

Vaakanainen, 26, acquired from Anaheim in December as part of the return package for Jacob Trouba, has played exclusively on the third defensive pair, averaging 15:42 of ice time — the least of any of the Rangers’ defensemen. But in practice on Thursday, coach Peter Laviolette chose to elevate Vaakanainen into the top four on defense and pair him with Fox’s regular partner, Ryan Lindgren.

Laviolette chose to keep K’Andre Miller and Borgen together, then opted to keep Braden Schneider on the third pair, partnering him with Zac Jones, who hasn’t played in an NHL game since Feb. 7. Laviolette said the familiarity Jones and Schneider have from playing together so much during the past few seasons played a part in his thinking.

“That factored into it,’’ he said. “I also know the way that Vax has played, and so that gives you a real good pair of defenders [with Lindgren] that are put together.’’

Vaakanainen was selected 18th overall by the Bruins in the 2017 NHL Draft. He was part of the Finnish team that won the World Junior Championship in 2019 and spent four seasons shuttling back and forth to the minor leagues as he tried to break into the NHL full-time. Last season was his first full season in the NHL, as he played in 68 games for the Ducks.

Vaakanainen, who has played in 26 games with the Rangers this season, scored his second goal of the season on Tuesday night against the Islanders to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. He added two assists and was named the first star of the game.

Pairing Vaakanainen with Lindgren, with only one practice together, means both players will have to do extra work communicating with one another. There’s also the wrinkle that Vaakanainen is a lefthanded shot playing on the right side, which he hasn’t done much in the last few years.

After all his years playing with Fox, a righthander, Lindgren said it will be a little different playing with another lefty.

“I think it’s something you got to keep in mind, for sure,’’ Lindgren said. “You’re a lefty, you’re gonna pass over to a righty, you just kind of don’t even think about it. So switching hands, you got to think about a little bit. But I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.”

Notes & quotes: Chris Kreider missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury . . . Arthur Kaliyev and D Matthew Robertson were the healthy scratches.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

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.