After losing a pair of defensemen during last night’s game against the New York Islanders, it comes as no surprise the New York Rangers have recalled defenseman Matthew Robertson from their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack. Unfortunately, the recall comes with a major blow to their postseason chances as Arthur Staple of The Athletic reported the team is expected to place Adam Fox on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
Fox left Tuesday night’s game in the third period due to the upper-body injury after tallying one assist in 17:48 of ice time. As Staple shared in his report, the Rangers are optimistic he can return for the final stretch of the regular season.
Still, Fox’s injury will severely impact New York’s playoff chances for the foreseeable future. Only one year removed from earning the ’Regular Season Champions’ banner at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers have posted a 29-25-4 record through 58 games this season. At the time of writing, that record is good for two points back of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Despite their proximity to the last playoff spot in the standings, MoneyPuck gives New York a 43.4% chance of reaching the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs — lower than their odds for the Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings. Fox is one of the handful of players on the Rangers who hasn’t disappointed this season scoring five goals and 48 points in 58 games averaging 23:14 of ice time per night with a +5 rating.
Meanwhile, Robertson is positioned to debut in the NHL, albeit under unfortunate circumstances. The former 49th overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft has been impressive for the Wolf Pack this year scoring one goal and 18 points in 47 contests with a +2 rating. The Rangers still carry six healthy defensemen on the roster outside of Fox but Robertson should likely debut given the length of Fox’s recovery timeline.
If general manager Chris Drury is hell-bent on getting New York to the playoffs for a fourth straight season the injury to Fox should affect their trade deadline strategy. The Rangers may ultimately hang on to oft-mentioned trade candidates such as Ryan Lindgren and K’Andre Miller. Additionally, Drury could begin putting feelers out in the rental market for right-handed defensemen.