The Rangers cleaned out their lockers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday following their Eastern Conference Finals loss to the Florida Panthers.
As players prepared for the offseason, they spoke to reporters about how the season ended and what’s to come.
Here are the highlights…
Adam Fox played in the playoffs due to a knee injury
Fox wasn’t himself in the playoffs, and now we have one possible reason why: He “aggravated” his knee injury during the Rangers’ first-round sweep of the Washington Capitals.
But he wasn’t looking for excuses.
“I could play,” he said. “Once you get out there, you’re expected to perform. So don’t sit here and say I’m hurt or anything like that. When you’re on the ice, you’re expected to perform. I think that’s it goal is .”
Fox looked better toward the end of the Panthers series, but its overall playoff numbers weren’t up to its standards.
In sixteen games he scored zero goals and eight assists.
In the Rangers’ last run to the Eastern Conference finals – in 2021-2022 – Fox scored five goals and eighteen assists in twenty games.
Chris Kreider remains convinced this group can win it all
One of the reasons the Rangers bowed out after taking a 2-1 lead against Florida was because three of their biggest stars – Kreider, Artemi PanarinAnd Mika Zibanejad – didn’t yield much.
But Kreider remains convinced this group can win it all.
“Yes,” was Kreider’s short and sweet answer when asked about his confidence in the team that could get over the hump and win the Stanley Cup.
Kreider, the longest-tenured Ranger, was part of the last Blueshirts group to advance to the Cup finals – during the 2013-14 season against the Los Angeles Kings, when New York lost in five games.
Since then, the Rangers have reached the Eastern Conference finals three times (2014-15, 2021-22, 2023-24), losing each time.
Trocheck was seen consoling Shesterkin after Game 6 against the Panthers.
On Tuesday, Trocheck spoke about that moment.
“Shesty, I mean, he was our best player in the playoffs by a significant margin. If there was one guy that I thought needed to hear that right after the loss to kind of keep his spirits up, I told just told him that he was.” our best player and he deserved better.”
