New York Rangers’ Adam Fox leaves game early with lower-body injury

The New York Rangers have announced that defenseman Adam Fox will miss the remainder of Thursday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes with a lower-body injury.

UPDATE: Defenseman Adam Fox will be out for the remainder of the game (lower body).

— NY Rangers PR (@NYR_PR) November 3, 2023

The injury occurred late in the first period of the game after Fox, 25, had an incidental knee-on-knee collision with Canes center Sebastian Aho. There’s no word as to the severity of the injury, or if Fox is expected to be out for longer than Thursday’s game. He left the game with a shot on goal in 6:01 of ice time as the Rangers went on to win the game 2-1.

Fox was off to an excellent start to the year, with 3 goals, 8 assists and 11 points in 9 games so far this season. If that pace continues, it’ll be the first time he finishes a season above a point-per-game pace, with his 2021-22 season being the closest to that achievement, where he had 74 points in 78 games. He has produced at a point-per-game pace in both of his last two playoff runs.

Fox was a former third-round pick of the Calgary Flames in the 2016 NHL Draft, and was traded to both the Canes and the Rangers before finally signing an NHL contract with New York. He’s currently in the second year of a seven-year contract with a $9.5 million cap hit, one he signed with the Rangers as an extension at the start of the 2021-22 season.

With Fox out of the lineup, his normal defense partner Ryan Lindgren has seen a regular rotation of the Rangers other two right defensemen in Jacob Trouba and Braden Schneider. Erik Gustafsson has been taking Fox’s spot on the top power play. Zachary Jones will likely step into the lineup for future games if Fox’s injury is long-term.

Rangers center Filip Chytil also left Thursday’s game with an upper-body injury. He had collided with Jesper Fast in the first period, and was seen in pain on the bench, eventually leaving the game in the middle of the second period. He had two shots on goal in 10:23 of ice time.

Igor Shesterkin also briefly looked to be hurt during the first period after a rough collision with Vincent Trocheck when the Rangers center was trying to prevent a goal. Shesterkin appeared to be shaken up and was bent over for an extended period of time, but ended up staying in the game.