Jericho's Adam Fox looks past last season's frustration to embrace future with Rangers

Adam Fox grew up in Jericho bleeding blue as a lifelong Rangers fan. And now, as he prepares to start his eighth season with the Blueshirts, Fox was asked this week if he’s ready to say he’ll be a Ranger for life.

“Let’s hope so, right?’’ he said with a smile.

Seven months ago, Fox created a stir. After a second major injury, upon his return to a Rangers team that had thrown in the towel on the 2025-26 season and announced it would “retool,’’ he was asked if he wanted to stick around and be part of that retool. He didn’t just say yes.

“I’m just trying to focus on this year right now and play each game,’’ he said then. “And I think that’s a conversation [to have] when we’re done playing games.’’

Speaking to Newsday on Wednesday, though, Fox said he is in a better head space now than he was when he made those comments. They came in his first interview after being sidelined for 13 games with a lower-body injury and followed a frustrating 3-2 overtime loss to the Flyers in the Rangers’ first game back from the Olympic break. He was particularly irritated at the time.

Now, though, coming off a long, restful summer and getting ready to start the regular season in Boston on Tuesday, Fox said he is “excited for the season.’’

“It will always be an honor to throw on the Ranger jersey,’’ he said. “And you know, yeah, I think last year was frustrating for everyone. So I think myself and everyone’s just looking forward to this year and hoping to have a good, healthy season and show what we can do.’’

Fox’s health would figure to be a big part of what the Rangers are able to do.

Injuries limited the 28-year-old to 55 games last season, and he had nine goals and 44 assists. But his two separate stints on the injured list — he missed 27 of 30 games from late November to late February with a shoulder injury and then the lower-body injury — were devastating to the team.

“He had a difficult season last year with respect to injuries,’’ coach Mike Sullivan said. “We lost him for a couple of times for a significant period of time, and it had an influence on our ability to have success. It’s hard to replace a guy like that. He has such an impact on the game. When he was in our lineup, we were a very different team.’’

In the 27 games Fox missed, the Rangers went 8-16-3, including a devastating 2-11 record in his second absence — one that coincided with goalie Igor Shesterkin also being out of the lineup. Both got hurt in the same game, Jan. 5 against Utah, and 11 days later, general manager Chris Drury put out a message to the fans that the team would retool.

Part of the retool involved trading Artemi Panarin before the Olympic break and Vincent Trocheck over the summer, which was a blow to Fox.

“Bread [Panarin] was here since I first got here, so that’s a big change, obviously, for me,’’ he said. “Troch, guys like Brodz [Jonny Brodzinski] — you just had a lot of good guys in the room, guys you got close with. I mentioned it last year, but families get close, wives get close. So that’s always tough. But that’s the nature of pro sports. You understand that that’s part of it.’’

So Fox is looking ahead, excited to get familiar with the new Rangers — sniper Pavel Dorofeyev, defensemen Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson, versatile forwards Oliver Bjorkstrand and Eeli Tolvanen and, possibly, 18-year-old defenseman Alberts Smits, the first-round pick who played his second preseason game Thursday at the Garden against the Devils.

So life as a Ranger goes on for Fox, even if he can’t promise he’ll be a Ranger for life.

He noted that playing his entire career with the Rangers is something that might not be up to him, as it wasn’t for Chris Kreider. Fox has three years left on the seven-year, $66.5 million contract ($9.5 million average annual value) he signed in November 2021. Although he has a full no-movement clause this year, that becomes a 16-team no-trade clause in the last two seasons.

“I’ve always wanted to be a Ranger, even from when I was young,’’ he said. “But I mean, you look at how sports goes . . . The life is — that’s a long time.

“So I’m just excited for the season and excited to still have an opportunity to do some good things here.’’

Notes & quotes: Will Cuylle scored the only goal of the shootout and Joonas Korpisalo stopped all three shots he faced in the tiebreaker as the Rangers rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the Devils, 4-3. Goals by Stefan Noesen and Ethan Edwards gave the Devils a 2-0 lead entering the third period, but goals by Cuylle and Anton Blidh tied it. Scott Morrow scored to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead before the Devils’ Amadeus Lombardi tied it at 3. The Rangers will wrap up the preseason Friday against the Islanders at UBS Arena . . . The Rangers assigned forwards Jacob Battaglia, Brody Lamb and Dylan Roobroeck and goalies Spencer Martin and Callum Tung to AHL Hartford.

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.