Rangers' Adam Fox appears near return

GREENBURGH — The day after their eighth shutout loss of the season, there was reason for optimism at Rangers practice Sunday.

Adam Fox, who has been on long-term injured reserve and has missed the last 13 games with an upper-body injury, practiced and was out of the red no-contact jersey he’d been wearing.

Fox instead was in a regular full-contact jersey, indicating he is ready to return to action for the Rangers. They certainly can use him, especially on the back end of their power play.

“It’s great,’’ coach Mike Sullivan said of seeing Fox practicing full go. “It obviously suggests he’s that much closer. He was full capacity today, we worked him on the power play, he took full contact. We’ll see how he responds and we’ll make decisions.’’

Could he play Monday, when the Rangers visit the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center in Raleigh?

“I would consider him day-to-day at this point,’’ Sullivan said.

Forward Mika Zibanejad said: “It gives you energy and it gives you a little bit of spark to seeing him .  .  . in a regular jersey, and even getting reps on the power play. Definitely a boost for us.’’

When he left the lineup, Fox — the Rangers’ No. 1 defenseman and the point man on their first power-play unit — was the second-leading scorer on the team with 26 points (three goals, 23 assists) in 27 games. After a blah season in 2024-25, he had been having a bounce-back year.

According to Zibanejad, whenever Fox returns, the Rangers will be getting back “one of the best defensemen in the world.’’

“The poise he has, the decision-making, the way he sees the ice — and obviously, just being a defenseman, being comfortable on the blue line — it makes a big difference, especially like if you compare that to myself and [Panarin],’’ Zibanejad said. “He has skills and the poise that very few in this world have.’’

While the defense has hung in there without Fox, the power play clearly has missed him.

In the 27 games Fox played before taking a hit into the boards by Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel and leaving the game in the third period on Nov. 29, the Rangers’ power play scored 20.9% of the time (13-for-62) with Fox as the primary point man.

Since he went down, the power play has gone 5-for-34 (14.7%), including 0-for-3 Saturday in a 2-0 loss to the Islanders. The Rangers came up empty on two power-play opportunities in the final 5 minutes, 19 seconds with the team trying to rally from a 1-0 deficit.

When asked about the power play’s failures Saturday, forward Vincent Trocheck said, “I don’t love it right now.’’

To be fair, the power play also is missing a key contributor in J.T. Miller, who is on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, but not having Fox at the point has been a major problem.

When Fox first went down, Sullivan tried a power-play unit that had five forwards and no defensemen on it, using Artemi Panarin at the point. But the group struggled and allowed a couple of shorthanded goals.

Sullivan eventually replaced Panarin with Zibanejad, and that had some immediate success. The group went 2-for-2 with Zibanejad at the point in a 5-4 overtime win over Montreal on Dec. 13.

Then Zibanejad was suspended for the next game because he was late for a meeting, and the power play went 0-for-8 in the next two games.

In the last five games, Sullivan has used rookie defenseman Scott Morrow at the point, and the power play has gone 3-for-16 (18.8%).

But it isn’t just the power play that Fox figures to improve when he returns. Before his injury, Fox partnered with Vladislav Gavrikov to form one of the top defensive pairs in the league. With that duo on ice — and almost always matched up against the opposing team’s top forward line — the Rangers had outshot opponents 199-179, out-chanced them 223-146 and outscored them 16-11.

As much as the Rangers need Fox to help them in their offensive game, he’ll help them on the defensive end, too.

Notes & quotes: Miller, who has been out since taking a shoulder-to-shoulder hit from Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler on Dec. 20, skated by himself Sunday, Sullivan said .  .  . Fourth-line center Sam Carrick missed practice Sunday because he was ill, the team said.

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.