Injuries hurt the chances of Rangers' Adam Fox, J.T. Miller making U.S. Olympic team

RALEIGH, N.C. – With Olympic team rosters set to be announced on Wednesday, the Rangers’ game Monday against the Carolina Hurricanes was the last opportunity for players who are candidates to make their national teams for the tournament, to make a case for themselves.

Adam Fox and J.T. Miller didn’t have that opportunity.

Fox, the Rangers’ No. 1 defenseman, has been out all of December with an upper-body injury. He’s been skating for a while now, and practiced fully with the team on Sunday. But he remained on long-term injured reserve and missed his 14th straight game. Miller, the Rangers’ captain, is on injured reserve with an upper-body injury and missed his fourth straight game. He has skated on his own and Rangers coach Mike Sullivan said he likely will join the team at some point on the current road trip.

Sullivan, who doubles as the U.S. Olympic head coach, was asked Monday morning if injured players like Fox and Miller, who figure to be healthy enough to play in February, when the tournament will be played in Milan-Cortina, Italy, would have their chances of making the team hurt by the timing of their injuries.

“There's a process that's put in place to account for those types of circumstances,’’ Sullivan said. “In the event that players get injured along the way, there is opportunity to add players to the roster [to replace them], and that's all taken into consideration when these types of decisions are made.

“The other thing I would say to you is that I think, when you look at a lot of these players, there's a significant body of work that these guys have built over the course of the last handful of years, and most recently,’’ he said. “And all of those things are taken into consideration.’’

Fox, Miller, and Vincent Trocheck, who all played for the U.S. team at last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, are candidates to make the U.S. team, but all are considered on the fence as far as making the roster.

Fox, the Jericho native and 2021 Norris Trophy winner as the NHL’s top defenseman, was a disappointment at 4 Nations and muddled through a disappointing season in 2024-25. He had been having a strong bounce-back season this year, up until he got hurt in a game against Tampa Bay Nov. 29. At that point, he had 26 points (three goals, 23 assists) in 27 games, was the Rangers’ second-leading scorer, and one-half of one of the NHL’s top defensive pairs, alongside Vladislav Gavrikov.

But the competition for the eight defense spots on the U.S. roster has been fierce, and prognosticators are split on whether Fox, 27, will make it.

The re-emergence of Seth Jones, a trade deadline import last season who helped Florida win its second straight Stanley Cup, has complicated things for Fox. Jones has had a strong season for Florida and adding him to the mix gives U.S.A. GM Bill Guerin another righthanded-shooting defenseman to consider who’s bigger (6-4, 213) and grittier than Fox.

Most projections have Jones, who wasn’t on the 4 Nations roster, making the Olympic team. So if Fox is going to earn a spot, he’ll likely have to beat someone else out.

Youth hockey teammates Miller and Trocheck, both 32, both fit the same role as gritty, two-way forwards who can kill penalties and win faceoffs, Miller from the left side, and Trocheck from the right side. When both have been healthy, they have been Sullivan’s first choice forward pair on the penalty kill, and they actually may be competing against one another for a spot.

Miller has battled a number of injuries since training camp and has not had a strong year overall. He has 10 goals and 12 assists (22 points) in 35 games, along with a faceoff win percentage of 59.9. Trocheck was hurt in the second game of the season, and missed 14 games. He entered Monday’s game with eight goals, 12 assists (20 points) in 26 games, and a faceoff win percentage of 56.3.

Guerin got a good look at the two of them earlier this month when he was at Madison Square Garden for back-to-back games Dec. 6 and 7 against Colorado and Vegas. Fox was injured for those games.

As for other countries, Mika Zibanejad (12 goals, 17 assists in 39 games entering Monday) is likely to make Sweden’s team, and despite not being a regular for the Rangers, defenseman Urho Vaakanainen could make a banged-up Finland team that has been decimated by injuries and is hurting for defensemen. Minor league forward Adam Sykora, currently playing with the Rangers’ Hartford farm team, is expected to make Slovakia’s team.

Goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who started Monday night, leading scorer Artemi Panarin and defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov won’t be going to the Olympics because Russia is not in the tournament.