Rangers Notes: Adam Fox’s knee; Vincent Trocheck says Igor Shesterkin ‘deserved better’

The Rangers cleaned out their lockers on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden following their Eastern Conference Final 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 through a knee injury in the playoffs

Fox wasn’t himself in the playoffs, and now we have one potential reason why — he “reaggravated” his knee injury during the Rangers’ sweep over the Washington Capitals in the first round.

But he was not looking to make any excuses.

“I was able to play,” he said. “Once you’re out there, you’re expected to perform. So, not gonna sit here and say I was hurt or anything like that. When you’re on the ice, there’s an expectation to perform. I think that’s the goal.”

Fox looked better toward the end of the Panthers series, but his overall playoff numbers were not up to his standards.

In 16 games, he had zero goals and eight assists.

In the Rangers’ last run to the Eastern Conference Final — in 2021-22 — Fox tallied five goals and 18 assists in 20 games.

Chris Kreider remains confident this group can win it all

One of the reasons the Rangers flamed out after taking a 2-1 series lead against Florida was that three of their biggest stars – Kreider, Artemi Panarin, and Mika Zibanejad — didn’t produce much.

But Kreider remains confident this group can win it all.

“Yes,” was Kreider’s short and sweet answer when asked about his confidence level in the team being able to 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 final — during the 2013-14 season against the Los Angeles Kings, when New York lost in five games.

Since then, the Rangers have made it to the Eastern Conference Final on three occasions (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 by a significant margin in the playoffs. If there was one guy I thought needed to hear that right after the loss, to kind of keep his spirits up — I just told him he was our best player and he deserved better.”