TAMPA -- The New York Rangers were doing power-play work in advance of Monday's 3-2 loss to the Florida Panthers, with the puck whipping around crisply among a top unit that's gotten some of its mojo back in the final weeks of an otherwise calamitous season.
At one point, Adam Fox -- typically one of the quieter players on the team -- let out a high-pitched exclamation of approval. He was dancing along the blue line, smiling widely, even talking a little smack.
An uninformed onlooker would have never known they were watching a downtrodden, last-place team. Fox was having as much fun as anyone -- and for the Rangers, who are facing a laundry list of difficult questions heading into another long summer, it had to be an especially welcome sight.
"Regardless of how the year went, this has been a pretty tight group," Fox told The Athletic prior to Wednesday's season finale against the Tampa Bay Lightning. "It would have been a disservice to each other to just pack it in and call it quits that early. So, I think the group's done a great job just of staying locked in and trying to compete and trying to just finish strong."
The 28-year-old defenseman finished the season with an air of ease and enjoyment that seemed to be missing a number of weeks ago. He missed 27 games due to injury -- first left shoulder, then lower body -- which coincided with New York's season going off the rails.
Fox was on the shelf when team president Chris Drury decided to further dismantle a roster that's been picked apart the last two years, which he announced in a Jan. 16 letter to season-ticket holders that left players wondering what comes next. He was also left off the U.S. men's Olympic roster, forcing him to watch from home while Drury, head coach Mike Sullivan and teammates J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck captured the gold medal he'd always dreamed of winning.
It's no wonder that Fox wasn't as cheery when he finally returned on Feb. 26, nor that he was noncommittal when initially asked about his future with the Rangers. And while he still wants to see what Drury has in store before offering a full-throated endorsement, this past month has allowed him to start moving past this season's disappointments and reaffirm faith in his teammates.
"For me, it was just, we're still in a unique situation," he said. "Not many people have been through a retool letter and kind of what that means, so I think that's kind of where the figuring out stuff was from. It was never really about belief in the guys. It was just kind of direction and where it's going. I think that's where I was at. But obviously there's been some promising signs of the possibilities of the kind of team we can be."
The kind of team the Rangers can be changes drastically with Fox in the lineup. He's absorbed ample criticism the last couple of seasons, particularly coming off a poor 4 Nations showing that cost him a spot in the Olympics, but his impact is as significant as any NHL skater to their respective team.
Consider New York's results with and without Fox on the ice at five-on-five this season:
The Rangers go from negative to positive in every major analytic category when Fox comes over the boards, most notably a 12.9 percent bump in expected goals-for rate and a sizable 16.2 percent jump in their ratio of high-danger scoring chances generated. And for the traditionalists, New York registered a minus-14 goal differential without Fox and plus-11 with him.
For a defenseman who doesn't boast the speed and mobility of the consensus best players at his position -- Minnesota's Quinn Hughes, Colorado's Cale Makar and Columbus' Zach Werenski -- or the size and reach of Buffalo's Rasmus Dahlin or Tampa's Victor Hedman, for example, Fox appreciates the underlying numbers because they help quantify the subtleties that make him elite.
"For the longest time, I've never been overly physical and never been the fastest guy on the ice," the 5-foot-11, 185-pounder said. "I think with me that's about providing good passes, setting up the forwards for success, creating chances, and obviously defending hard when it calls for it. My game isn't always built on flash. I try to go out there and just have a positive impact, and I think maybe for a player like me, where it's not as much about (the physical traits), the analytics kind of tell more of that story."
That was on display for the first 27 games of the season during which Fox ranked second among all NHL defensemen with 26 points and was off to arguably his best start in years.
"I thought it was up there," he said. "It's hard to assess four or five years ago and compare it to now, in a sense. ... But yeah, I think the start of the year was definitely how I wanted to attack it when last season ended."
Fox likely would have landed on Norris Trophy ballots had that continued, but a Nov. 29 hit from Lightning forward Brandon Hagel altered the course of his season -- and the Rangers. He hurt his left shoulder while being crunched into the boards and would miss the next month.
He returned for New Year's Eve in Washington -- the same day he found out about his Olympic snub -- but within three games, he was injured again. This time it was a lower-body ailment, causing Fox to miss another month and a half. New York plummeted during that stretch, losing 16 of 19 games from Christmas until late February to essentially tank the season.
"That's where it's really disappointing for me," he said.
Fox returned to a team that was reeling from losses and anxious about the approaching trade deadline. They were also stinging from the deal that sent leading scorer Artemi Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings, which hit Fox especially hard.
"From the on-ice side, it stinks," he said. "He's probably the most skilled player I’ve ever played with in my hockey career, so to see a guy like that go is tough. And away from the ice, you get really close. When you spend seven years together seeing each other every day, our wives get pretty close too. ... Especially with me being hurt, I felt a little helpless in being able to maybe change that; where if we had a few more wins maybe he’s still here—that’s where it really hurt."
Fox’s superpower is his playmaking, but he needs to be surrounded by capable scorers to maximize that ability. It was unclear where that would come from with Panarin joining a long list of players who have been shipped out of town; which coupled with Fox’s extended absence diminished his effectiveness for a brief period.
"I had played three games in like two-and-a-half months," he said. "Obviously there’s a little tentativeness when you miss that much time so I think that kind of comes with finding your game. But you also come back and guys have been traded; you’re far down standings with playoffs pretty much outta reach so I think handling both those was definitely unique this year."
He posted only one assist through his first five games back while making uncharacteristic mistakes on both ends of the ice but took off from there. Fox rallied for 24 points in his final 20 games tying Pittsburgh’s Erik Karlsson for most among NHL defensemen in that span. He finished with 53 points (nine goals and 44 assists) in 55 games while leading the Rangers by a healthy margin with a 14.55 net rating according to Hockey Stat Cards.
"The last little while here he’s defending as hard as he’s generating offense for us—and that’s what he’s capable of," Sullivan said. "It’s unfortunate from our team standpoint that we lost him for as long as we did because he’s such an impactful player for us—for obvious reasons."
How much Fox’s strong finish will carry over to next season is debatable but it will be meaningful if it strengthens his resolve to stay the course in New York. He pointed to growth from young forwards Alexis Lafrenière and Gabe Perreault as reasons for optimism; while Friday’s exit interviews with Drury and Sullivan will be important forums to continue smoothing things over and selling Fox on the future—it sounds like progress has already been made on that front.
"You’re always playing for something so I think that was a big part," he said. "I’m definitely proud of the group (and) proud of myself for coming back trying to play hard just trying to play some good hockey here down stretch."