Rangers need to upgrade Adam Fox’s partner, NHL Network analyst believes
The New York Rangers seem quite happy with their top defense pairing of Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren. But former defenseman and current NHL Network analyst Jason Demers believes the Rangers — and Fox — would benefit by upgrading the left side of the top pairing.
“I think it’s warranted. … I feel like a lot of it has to do with his D partners,” Demers said. “I don’t know if there’s a guy that can, well [Fox] needs somebody very defensive, and somebody that’s probably a lot bigger than he is, you know. I don’t know if Ryan Lindgren is the perfect partner for him and allows him to flourish the way he can.”
Demers made his comments on the network, explaining why Fox finished eighth on its list of top-20 defensemen in the NHL entering the 2024-25 season. A year ago, Fox ranked second.
If you look at the numbers, Lindgren has been the perfect fit for Fox. Per StatMuse, Fox has 279 points (48 goals and 231 assists) and a plus/minus of +99 in 314 games he’s played with Lindgren in the lineup. In the 43 games they have not been together, Fox has 29 points (five goals and 24 assists) and a plus/minus of +9.Â
Lindgren’s defensive ability as a solid stay-at-home guy allows Fox to do what he can offensively for the Rangers. That is precisely how a defensive pairing should be put together. If one guy is offensively minded, have a stay-at-home defenseman.Â
Look at the Montreal Canadiens in the early 2010s with P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov. When Subban was traded to the Nashville Predators his defensive partner was Ryan Ellias. Another great example is the Ottawa Senators in that same period with Erik Karlsson and Marc Methot. Having a defensive-minded defenseman is not a bad thing. It makes sense.
There is a team across the river that won three Stanley Cup championships using that same exact model. Scott Niedermeyer had Ken Daneyko. Brian Rafalski had Scott Stevens. The Rangers used this model in 1994 to win the Stanley Cup when Brian Leetch, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, was paired with Jeff Beukeboom. And Sergei Zubov, who led the Rangers in regular-season scoring in 1993-94, paired with the defensive-minded Kevin Lowe.
So it makes sense.Â
Fox and Lindgren have been paired together going back to their teenage years playing internationally for the United States. Then when Fox first cracked the Rangers lineup in 2019 under coach David Quinn, Lindgren was his partner, and has been ever since.
Fox won the Norris Trophy as top NHL defenseman in 2020-21 and has recorded more than 70 points each of the past three seasons. All with Lindgren as his partner.
But Demers believes Lindgren is holding Fox back and should be looking for a new partner for Fox.Â
“I think [Fox] was a little banged up this past year and a little bit injured, and it affected his game. I just think he needs to take another step forward, not only offensively but defensively. And I think a lot of that hinges on his partner, and they need to find some better D to go alongside of him,” Demers explained. “I’m just going to be blunt with it. You know, they’re all NHL players on that roster, but there’s some guys that I think that could, they could have picked up in free agency that could have really helped him this year.”
Related: Why Adam Fox was clumsily taken for granted by NHL Network
Rangers ‘need to protect … shelter’ Adam Fox, NHL Network analyst says
So let’s play this game. Where were the Rangers going to find another defenseman good enough to play on the top pair with Fox?. The Rangers are up against the salary cap. Even before they signed Lindgren to a one-year, $4.5 million contract this summer, the Rangers did not have a lot of cap space. Before the Lindgren contract, the Rangers cap space was at $5,123,476 according to PuckPedia.com. Now it is at $623,476.Â
So where were the Rangers getting a defensemen in free agency? Brandon Montour ($7.14 million, Seattle Kraken), Brady Skjei ($7 million, Nashville Predators), Brett Pesce ($5.50 million, New Jersey Devils), Oliver Ekman-Larsson ($3.5 million, Toronto Maple Leafs) and Alec Martinez ($4 million, Chicago Blackhawks) were some of the big names available. Montour and Pesce are righthanded shots like Fox, so that’d knock them off the list. Skjei was a been-there-done-that candidate. And the others are not top-pairing defensemen any more.
There wasn’t a fit nor the money to make something work in free agency.
But still Demers persisted in his argument.
“And you know, you can’t ask [Fox] to do everything, because he’s as (fellow analyst and former defenseman Steve Konroyd) knows, he’s not the biggest defenseman, and he’s not fast, ‘Konnie’ mentioned at the starting of the show, he’s not the fastest fleet at the foot. His hockey IQ is what makes him so good,” Demers said. “So they need to protect him and shelter him a little bit more defensively. So I think it’s something that they should be looking to do this season through the trade market.”
Let’s go the trade route. Not a lot of room to add a first pairing defenseman. And if the Rangers were going down that route they were going to have to move Jacob Trouba’s contract that carries a cap hit of $8 million. But if they traded Trouba — which they tried and failed to do– who would they replace him with? That would’ve been two holes on defense to fill.
Plus, trading Trouba was an option to create cap space to sign a top-line right wing, likely the biggest hole in the lineup.
But back to the trade market. Jakob Chychrun might have been a good fit on Broadway, though, like Lindgren, he can become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
The Ottawa Senators traded Chychrun to the Washington Capitals for defenseman Nick Jensen and a third-round pick in the 2026 draft. Chychrun has a salary cap hit of $4.6 million. Would the Senators have swapped Chychrun for Lindgren? That’s a proposal the Rangers should’ve looked closely at if it was on the table.
More offensive minded than Lindgren, Chychrun could have even played on the second pair with Braden Schneider or Trouba, allowing K’Andre Miller the opportunity to play with Fox. Either Chychrun or Miller would’ve given Fox a bigger partner and one with more offensive skill than Lindgren. However, neither is a stay-at-home defenseman like Lindgren. And that’s worked pretty well for Fox, so far.
The Rangers very well may have to figure out a different solution in 2025-26 since this is Lindgren’s final season before free agency. But it doesn’t seem a bad idea at all to run it back with the Fox-Lindgren pairing again for at least this season, despite what Demers thinks.
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