When the Rangers turned the first pick in the third round of the 2025 Draft – acquired for Reilly Smith – to Vancouver for Carson Soucy, there was a collective moan for most Rangers fans. It was a strange message to send, because the Rangers sold sloping assets but also bought on Carson Soucy as a potential 1LD next to Adam Fox. The results were a mixed bag, not nearly as bad as many (including myself), but by no means near the impact, the rangers needed on the blue line.
After arriving from Vancouver, Soucy only played four games before he sat like a healthy scratch, ironically when Adam Fox returned from an injury. But Soucy was exceptionally bad at those four games, as if he was skating in mud and became a Punchline about the movements of Chris Drury on defense. The criticism was fair.
Soucy’s figures, together with the rest of the Rangers, were not good. He set up 1-2-3 in 16 games, but he is not a man you trust for offense. His numbers are a bit crooked, because they are usually at Vancouver and not in the Rangers, but it is worth mentioning a certain skills: defending zone inputs.
That is an important piece for the puzzle, because soucy’s defensive figures in a vacuum are at its best mediocre. But if you take that defensive zone input and forcing in the defensive zone (see: forcing dump insords), he can be a nice addition to a defense partner who is skilled in collecting the puck and moving it on the ice. That is why Soucy worked pretty well with Fox, despite the obvious shortcomings in his game.
Here we see Carson Soucy at its best. The Soucy-Fox couple was a power and extremely dominant In their 146 minutes together. The duo raised a shot share of 60%, 63% XG share and 72% high danger share. You might want FOX’s offensive skills as standard, but the duo was ridiculously good at limiting opportunities against both quantity and quality. They were just very good together.
Soucy can be a good enough defender in the right situation. I don’t think he should be next to Fox all season, especially with Vlad Gavrikov in the photo, but if the Rangers have another defender who excels in retrievals and outputs (perhaps roast Schneider?), Soucy can have a decent impact in the line -up.
2024-2025 Carson Soucy Report Card Grade: C-
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