The Rangers have announced that Adam Fox has been named Team MVP and Ryan Lindgren was named the winner of the Players’ Player Award and.
From the Rangers:
- The Most Valuable Player Award was voted on by members of the New York Rangers media and has been given annually since the conclusion of the 1941-42 season.
- Fox has won the award for the first time in his career. He is the first Ranger who has won the award in one of his first two seasons in the NHL since Henrik Lundqvist in 2006-07, and the first Rangers skater who has done so since Brian Leetch in 1988-89.
- Fox, who also won the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award in 2020-21, became the seventh Ranger to be named the Team’s MVP (as chosen by the media) and to receive the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award (as chosen by the fans) since 1987-88, which was the first year the Steven McDonald Extra Award was presented. He joins Adam Graves (1992-93 and 1993-94), Mark Messier (1994-95 and 1995-96), Leetch (1996-97), Wayne Gretzky (1997-98), Lundqvist (2017-18), and Mika Zibanejad (2018-19) as the only players to win both awards in the same season.
Artemi Panarin received the second-most votes for the award this season.
From the Rangers on Fox:
- Fox skated in 55 games with the Rangers this season, registering five goals and 42 assists for 47 points, along with a plus-19 rating and 14 penalty minutes.
- He led the Rangers in numerous categories this season, including assists, average ice time (24:42), and blocked shots (102).
- Fox became the fourth defenseman in franchise history to average at least 0.75 assists per game in a season (min. 10 games played), joining Brian Leetch (four times), Brad Park, and Sergei Zubov, and he became the first Rangers defenseman to do so since Leetch in 1995-96.
- Fox also became the eighth defenseman in franchise history to average at least 0.85 points per game in a season (min. 10 games played), joining Leetch (nine times), Park (four times), Ron Greschner (four times), Zubov (twice), Reijo Ruotsalainen (twice), James Patrick (twice), and Barry Beck, and he became the first Rangers defenseman to do so since Leetch in 2000-01.
- Fox posted a career-high 12-game point streak from Mar. 17 vs. Philadelphia to Apr. 8 vs. Pittsburgh, and the point streak was tied for the fifth-longest by a defenseman in franchise history.
- His 42 assists and 47 points this season were each the most by a Rangers defenseman at 23 years old or younger since Sergei Zubov in 1993-94.
Adam Rotter: Fox was the Rangers best player this season and really the only choice. He was their most consistent player, despite ending the season on a six-game pointless streak, and never really wavered despite all the minutes he was playing night to night. He’s going to be, or at least should be, a finalist for the Norris Trophy and this past season is hopefully Fox just scratching the surface. He’ll be even better equipped to play those big minutes night to night next season and just better overall as he goes from a second-year player to a third-year player. We know that the Rangers have held off naming a captain since Ryan McDonagh is traded and that the thought had always been that Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad were the leading candidates, with mentions of Jacob Trouba and the possibility that they were ultimately holding it for Alexis Lafreniere, but I think Fox has to be right up there in consideration.
The Players’ Player Award which “has been given annually since the conclusion of the 1958-59 season and recognizes the Ranger who, as selected by his teammates, “best exemplifies what it means to be a team player.”
Jesper Fast had won the award the prior five seasons.
Lindgren is the first defenseman to win the award since Ryan McDonagh in 2013-14 and is only the fourth different defenseman to win the award in the past 30 seasons (Jason Strudwick 2007-08, Brian Leetch 2000-01 to 2003-04).
From the Rangers:
- Lindgren skated in 51 games with the Rangers this season, registering one goal and 15 assists for 16 points, along with a plus-20 rating and 35 penalty minutes.
- He established career-highs in several categories in 2020-21, including assists, points, plus/minus rating, and hits (98), and he led the team in plus/minus rating this season. Lindgren was one of only three Rangers who recorded 90 or more hits and 50 or more blocked shots this season.
- At the time he suffered an upper-body injury on Apr. 29, he was one of only four Rangers (and the only defenseman) who played in each of the team’s first 51 games of the 2020-21 season.
- Lindgren ranked second on the Rangers in average shorthanded ice time this season (2:30), and he ranks fifth in the NHL (min. 115:00 of shorthanded ice time) in power play goals against per 60 minutes of shorthanded ice time in 2020-21 (4.22).
- He was not on the ice for a power play goal against in 20 consecutive games from Jan. 24 at Pittsburgh to Mar. 9 at Pittsburgh (51:30 of shorthanded ice time over the span).
Adam Rotter: Lindgren will always be overshadowed on his defense, by his partner if Fox, by K’Andre Miller, Jacob Trouba and probably Zac Jones, Braden Schneider and Nils Lundkvist, for a variety of reasons, but like Dan Girardi before him, he’s plays the tough minutes, always has multiple stitches or a black eye and he must really be hurt if he isn’t in the lineup. He, and Jacob Trouba, provide a lot of the toughness that the Rangers were missing last week and it’s nice that his teammates recognize him for that with this award.
Brendan Smith was named the winner of the “John Halligan Good Guy Award” that “recognizes a player for their cooperation with the media throughout the season.”
Adam Rotter: Since the moment he arrived from Detroit Smith has never been afraid to speak after games or practices and be accountable for what happened. I think you could argue him for the Players’ Player Award as well and I think he accepted his role as a mentor and leader on these young teams and the Rangers will miss him if he isn’t re-signed.
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