Ex-Rangers GM explains what’s ‘not true’ about Fox, Panarin deals in 2019
It’s pretty safe to say that Jeff Gorton changed the trajectory and future of the New York Rangers within a span of roughly nine weeks during the 2019 NHL offseason.
Then the general manager of the Rangers, Gorton acquired two cornerstone pieces, defenseman Adam Fox and forward Artemi Panarin, in a pair of franchise-altering moves which sped up the organizational rebuild which was announced just one year prior.
The Rangers acquired Fox in a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes, in return for a second-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft and a conditional 2020 selection, on April 30, 2019. Then on July 1, the Rangers signed Panarin to a seven-year, $81.5 million contract in free agency.
Each quickly rewarded Gorton’s faith and became cornerstone players for the Rangers. And, as it’s often mentioned, each supposedly wanted badly to play for the Rangers. So, in theory, Gorton didn’t break a sweat bringing these stars to New York.
In a recent interview on the Inside the Game podcast with Pierre McGuire, Gorton attempted to set the record straight. He started with Fox, a star at Harvard who didn’t sign with the team that drafted him (the Calgary Flames) nor one that traded for him (Hurricanes) presumably because he wanted to only play for his favorite childhood team, the Rangers.
“I had talked to Carolina for a while about [a Fox trade], knowing it was possible he wasn’t going to sign there. Then they gave me permission to talk with their guys and (Fox’s agent) Matt Keator,” Gorton explained. “People always try, and I always read it, that Adam Fox wanted to go to the Rangers, how hard was that? It was hard because at the same time Matt’s not stupid, he had told me he’ll go to Boston, he likes Boston. He’ll go to the Islanders, he’s from Long Island. So, it wasn’t like I could just give (Hurricanes GM) Donny Waddell a seventh-round pick and say he’s just coming to New York. We had to work at it. It obviously worked out for ‘Foxy’ and it worked out for the Rangers, and Donny got a pretty good haul for him.”
As for Panarin, the most coveted NHL free agent in 2019, Gorton had a similar explanation of why a superstar didn’t just fall into the Rangers lap.
“You can say the same thing about Panarin, he only wanted to play in New York,” he shared. “If you’re in that negotiation, he had like 10 offers north of $10 million a year. He could’ve gone wherever he wanted to. You had to at least sell him on what you were going to do. It wasn’t like ‘Even if you guys are bad, I’m coming to New York.’ Sometimes you read that and you’re like that’s not true.”
Jeff Gorton helped alter Rangers history by acquiring Adam Fox, Artemi Panarin in 2019
Panarin is one of the best free agent signings in Rangers history. He led them in scoring six straight seasons, and topped the list again before the Rangers traded him to the Los Angeles Kings ahead of the Olympic break this season. His career-high 120 points in 2023-24 are second-most in Rangers history, and his 1.26 points-per-game average (607 points in 482 games) is best in franchise history.
He was already an NHL star before signing with the Rangers. Fox, though, had never played a single professional game before the Rangers traded for him. Gorton recounted how he reached out to Harvard coach Ted Donato, a former NHL player with eight teams including the Rangers, to get some feedback about Fox.
“I called Teddy and told him I have the chance to get Adam Fox. And he was like ‘Why are you calling me? Do it,'” Gorton recalled. “He said ‘What’s it going to take?’ and I was like ‘two [second-round picks].’ And he’s like ‘I can’t even believe you hung up the call.'”
The Rangers, of course, made the trade and Fox won the Norris Trophy as the League’s best defenseman in 2020-21, his second NHL season. Entrenched on New York’s top defense pair, Fox has 422 points in 486 games, fourth most all-time among Rangers defensemen.
“I remember specifically a time with Adam Fox on the ice the first time he played Pittsburgh [Penguins] and he shook [Sidney] Crosby, and I swear [Crosby] looked back and was like ‘Who was that?’ He probably knew, but he learned that day that guy’s pretty good,” Gorton shared.
Fox’s career on Broadway was born during a rebuild. Since then it’s included a franchise resurgence, three straight seasons in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Eastern Conference Final appearances in 2022 and 2024, and a Presidents’ Trophy in 2023-24.
And now, there’s a retool, after two straight disappointing seasons missing the playoffs, including a last place conference finish in 2025-26.
Gorton never fully reaped the benefits of his work during the rebuild. The Rangers fired Gorton in 2021, replacing him with Chris Drury. Gorton didn’t remain unemployed for long, landing with the Montreal Canadiens front office six months after the Rangers sacked him. And his current team is in the postseason for the second year in a row.
But his lasting legacy with the Rangers remains the impactful work he did as general manager, especially during that 2019 offseason.
