Colin Stephenson: Rangers star defenseman Adam Fox passes on chance to commit to 'retool'
Rangers defenseman Adam Fox sets before a face off against the Penguins at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 28, 2026. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Adam Fox was given a chance Monday night to expand, amend, or clarify the comments he’d made last Thursday, when he started a near panic among the Rangers fan base by refusing to commit to the organization’s “retool.’’
He didn’t do any of those things.
“I mean, kind of the same,’’ he said, after the Rangers’ furious, four-goal, third-period rally against the Columbus Blue Jackets ultimately ended with a 5-4 overtime loss at the Garden. “I think we're just trying to focus on games. Myself included.
“There's a lot going on, the deadline and everything,’’ he said. “But I think all anyone could do right now is take it day-by-day, and try to bring a good effort, try to bring good attitude. And obviously, go from there.’’
There’s been a lot going on with the Jericho native this season. There was the Olympic snub; there were two separate injuries that caused him to miss 27 of 30 games from the beginning of December till last Thursday. And now there’s a Rangers team that, while he was out with a lower-body injury, announced in mid-January it will be undergoing a reorganization that general manager Chris Drury, in his message to the fans, labeled a “retool,’’ as opposed to a “rebuild.’’
The implication of that word choice is that this renovation project shouldn’t last very long. A nip here, a tuck there, and the Rangers will be back to Stanley Cup contention soon. And so, yes, Artemi Panarin, who has led the team in scoring each of the past seven seasons (he still leads this year, despite not having played for the team since Jan. 26) was traded to the L.A. Kings before the Olympic break, but that’s part of the plan.
Now, Vincent Trocheck, who’s currently third on the team in points, behind Panarin and Mika Zibanejad, appears set to be the next to go before Friday’s trade deadline. Trocheck, in a candid interview with reporters Monday, said he’s talked to his kids about the possibility, and he’ll be fine with it if it happens.
The thing is, despite Drury’s insistence in calling this a retool, and definitely not a rebuild, if Trocheck is traded, that will be another step backward the organization will take. Sometimes you have to take a step back to take two forward, but too many steps backward just increases the amount of time it will take to start moving forward. There aren’t necessarily any obvious franchise-changing unrestricted free agents available to sign this summer who figure to help the Rangers turn things around immediately.
Fox is 28 and in his prime. There is an urgency for him to be on a good team, one that can contend for a Stanley Cup now, not three or four or five years from now.
So, when the 2021 Norris Trophy winner was asked last Thursday, after his first game back from his latest injury, whether he wanted to be part of the retool, he didn’t say yes. What he said was:
“I'm just trying to focus on this year right now and play each game… and I think that's a conversation (to have) when we're done playing games.’’
That’s absolutely fair. Fox, who grew up a Rangers fan and was able to use his leverage while at Harvard to get Carolina to trade him to the Blueshirts in 2019, is a huge part of the core the Rangers are supposedly trying to build around. Arguably, he and goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who both were injured in the same Jan. 5 game, are the two most important pieces of that core, and both deserve a sit down with the GM to have the retool plan explained to them.
Both players are under contract – Fox for three more years after this one, Shesterkin for four more – so it’s not like they can just leave if they don’t like what they hear.
But if they don’t love the plan when it’s presented to them, what then? Could one or both request a trade? Because that would be a nightmare scenario for the Rangers.
Chances are, any ruffled feathers will be smoothed over, cooler heads will prevail, and neither franchise cornerstone will be going anywhere anytime soon.
Fox, especially, has ties to the area, things that presumably would make him think twice before wanting to leave. His family is from here. And he has an emotional tie to the team he loved as a boy. Would those be enough to make him stick around?
Rangers fans have to hope they would.
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.
