How Adam Fox ‘conundrum’ hangs over Rangers retool
Let’s not kid ourselves: Even with some positive signs recently, the New York Rangers have a ways to go in their retool before returning to contender status in the NHL. This offseason will be a massively important one for the Rangers.
There’s the draft in late June, of course. Right now, the Rangers have 11 picks, including two first-rounders and seven selections in the first three rounds. There’s no better way to restock the barren pipeline than by nailing what’s perceived to be a strong draft class this year.
Then there’s the likely trade of veteran center Vincent Trocheck, where general manager Chris Drury hopes to add young NHL talent to the Rangers core and show critics he knew what he was doing by not dealing Trocheck ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline.
There’ll be many more personnel decisions, including high-end ones on the futures of Alexis Lafreniere and Braden Schneider.
But perhaps right near the top of the to-do list for Drury is figuring out whether New York’s No. 1 defenseman is a long-term fixture on Broadway.
“The other thing they’re really going to have to be aware of, and I’m pretty sure they are, they’re going to have to figure out the Adam Fox conundrum that is,” NHL insider Pierre McGuire told Forever Blueshirts on the Rink Rap podcast. “Because that Olympic stuff had to be painful for ‘Foxy.’ And he’s been hurt twice, and you wonder if he’s really part of the long-term plan or if he’s not. And that’s up to the Rangers management and coaching staff to figure that out. Adam Fox is still a very good and very viable player in the National Hockey League.”
Of course, this really never felt like something the Rangers had to deal with. Fox is a star, one of their most irreplaceable players, a former Norris Trophy winner, a native New Yorker who moved heaven and earth to make sure he was traded by two teams so that he could begin his career with his favorite team. That he’s locked up for three more seasons after this one with an AAV of $9.5 million and a no-move clause through 2026-27 only further cemented his status in the Rangers’ core.
That is until, Fox left the door wide open about his desire to remain with the Rangers during this downturn and retool. Asked twice on the record if he wanted to ride this out and stay with the Rangers, Fox replied that this is something he’ll address with the organization in the offseason.
“The Rangers are going to have to break bread at the end of the year and come up with a way where they figure this out long term. Or if not, I would imagine Adam could move,” McGuire said. “I still think he could remain a Ranger, but they’re going to have to sit down and figure this out at the end of the year.”
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It’s understandable that Fox wishes to simply focus on playing hockey right now. He missed 27 games with two separate injuries. Fox’s pride and reputation took a major hit when he didn’t make Team USA’s roster for the Milan-Cortina Olympics. Making matters worse was that Drury and coach Mike Sullivan were among the decision-makers in shaping the gold medal-winning roster.
Ouch.
But there’s no questioning Fox’s value to the Rangers, who are 18-14-5 with him in the lineup this season but 8-16-3 without him. Since he and No. 1 goalie Igor Shesterkin returned from injuries after the Olympic break, the Rangers are 4-1-2, and won consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 18-20.
Despite missing 27 games, Fox is fourth on the Rangers with 27 assists and leads Blueshirts defensemen with 31 points in 37 games (0.84 points per game). His expected goal share 5v5 is far and away a team-high 60.22 percent, per Natural Stat Trick.
So, yes, this is an important situation for Drury to resolve this offseason. Remember, a year ago, the Rangers — with a huge input and effort by Sullivan — smoothed things over with Mika Zibanejad. That paid off in a big way this season; the 32-year-old’s been their best player, playing again at an elite level.
That’s to say, there’s no reason to panic that Fox is out the door. But it is a real possibility nonetheless.
“His agent is a guy named Matt Cater, and Matt is an amazingly smart hockey person … he knows how to move levers around the National Hockey League. And that’s the guy that helped orchestrate that Calgary to Carolina to New York (trades),” McGuire explained. “He did an amazing job for his client. I know Chris Drury is aware of this, Matt Cater is not a big name that everybody’s talking about, but he’s the guy behind the scenes that makes a lot of things happen for his players.
“He’s going to be very protective of Adam Fox.”
