Rangers coach Peter Laviolette may partner Adam Fox with K'Andre Miller for opener if Ryan Lindgren remains out
Rangers coach Peter Laviolette looks on at the team's facility in Greenburgh, NY, on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. Credit: Neil Miller
With defenseman Ryan Lindgren still out with an upper-body injury and his availability for next week’s regular-season opener very much in doubt, Rangers coach Peter Laviolette continues to run through his options for who should partner with Adam Fox if Lindgren can’t go.
On Tuesday, Laviolette said one of those options he will try is K’Andre Miller.
“We're gonna give it a look,’’ the coach said when asked about a potential Miller-Fox combo.
The partnership didn’t get a look Tuesday night when the Rangers played a minor-league version of the Devils at Madison Square Garden. Miller was in the lineup for the Rangers’ 5-4 victory, but Fox wasn’t.
After Tuesday, though, the Rangers will have one last preseason game, Friday against the Islanders at UBS Arena. Laviolette is likely going to dress his full lineup – or something very close to it – for that game, and Miller-Fox could get a dry run there.
Fox and Lindgren, both 26, have been defense partners since both broke into the NHL in the 2019-20 season. And they go back even further than that, having been partners when they were together at the U.S. National Team Development Program as high schoolers. Miller, 24, has partnered mostly with Jacob Trouba since he entered the league in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season.
For the last four seasons, those four gave the Rangers two defense pairs they could send out against other teams’ top forward lines. But with Lindgren out, the question was how best to reconfigure the top four defensemen.
Since Lindgren went down, the coach has tried several different players alongside the righthanded-shooting Fox. Connor Mackey, a lefthander, partnered with him in last Thursday’s preseason game against the Bruins, and rookie Victor Mancini, a righthander, partnered with him in a couple practices last week. Miller got a turn with Fox at Monday’s practice.
Putting Miller, a lefty, with Fox would give the Rangers a true top defense pair in Lindgren’s absence.
“It's a lefty-righty combo,’’ Laviolette said. “And I feel like they're both top-minute defensemen for us.
“I think (Lindgren’s injury) opened up something that… you're not expecting that, but over the course of the season, injuries always happen, right? But then when something happens… you've got to find the right pieces and the right partners for each other.’’
Laviolette said he will continue to consider all the options, which would include playing Mancini or Chad Ruhwedel, another righthander, on the left side. It’s possible that without Lindgren, the Rangers’ top six defensemen could include two lefthanders (Miller and Zac Jones) and four righthanders (Fox, Trouba, Braden Schneider and either Ruhwedel or Mancini), meaning one righty would need to play the left.
Fox said he’ll be fine no matter who he plays with. But getting to work with different partners in practice and the preseason is helpful, he said.
“We always say that's what training campus for to, mix and match and play games with other (partners),’’ Fox said. “Understanding ‘reads,’ and where guys are going to be, and stuff like that. So, there is a chemistry aspect that goes with playing with people. So, I think just developing that is the most important thing.’’
Panarin again leaves early
Artemi Panarin left Tuesday's game in the first period with a lower-body injury and did not return. Panarin also left last Tuesday’s game against the Islanders with a lower-body injury. “It's being evaluated," Laviolette said. "He went back (to the locker room) just for precautionary (reasons).’’ Laviolette, though, didn’t downplay Panarin’s condition. “When players leave the game, it's always a concern. He's getting evaluated.’’
Kaapo Kakko, Adam Edstrom, Mancini, Mackey, and Vincent Trocheck scored for the Rangers.
Igor Shesterkin played two periods and allowed 2 goals on 18 shots. Dylan Garand allowed 2 goals on 16 shots in the third.
Blue notes
The Rangers reduced their roster by nine: Forwards Jaroslav Chmelar, Bryce McConnell-Barker, Dylan Roobroeck, Adam Sykora, Blake Hillman, Nate Sucese and D Blade Jenkins were assigned to AHL Hartford, and forward Adam Erne and defenseman Madison Bowey were released from their PTOs and sent to Hartford’s training camp on PTOs. Thirty-six players remain in camp.
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.
