Adam Fox made waves after another loss last night. Not through his play or his Olympic snub, but with his comments about his future with the Rangers. Fox was visibly frustrated and unwilling to talk about his future, reigniting trade rumors as everyone with a pulse took note. But let it be known: If Adam Fox requests a trade, then the only solution is to fire Chris Drury. In the grand scheme of things, Fox is worth far more than Drury right now, in the future, and for kicks and giggles, in the past too.
Patreon subscribers (subscribe here!) got a few days notice that this might happen. The only good news is that if Adam Fox requests a trade, then the return would be absolutely enormous. Any differences between Quinn Hughes and Adam Fox on the ice is made up by Fox’s handedness and term remaining on his contract.
Despite a recent surge in folks getting lost in a bad narrative that Fox is somehow not an elite defenseman based on the 4 Nations Tournament, it’s important to remember that Fox is a top-two RD in the NHL right now, with Cale Makar being the other. Funny enough, there’s an argument that Fox is better because Makar sees his numbers take a significant hit when not on the ice without Nathan MacKinnon. But that’s a fun topic for another day. The point is, Fox is a top-two right defenseman in the NHL.
Fox has one Norris Trophy in 2021 and finished second in 2023 behind Erik Karlsson’s ridiculous 101 point season. Despite playing through multiple knee injuries the last three years has been fairly close to a point per game pace. If Adam Fox requests a trade, the Rangers can’t replace his production. He may get an absolute haul, one comparable to Quinn Hughes, but it still doesn’t erase the fact that Fox would be, by far, the best player in the trade.
Fox haters don’t want to recognize the truth: Fox is a top-three defenseman in the NHL. The only arguments used against him are the 4 Nations Tournament (really?) and a lack of high end speed which people for some reason link to being a bad skater. As a reminder, speed is one aspect of skating, and while Fox may not be Paul Coffey out there, he has excellent agility, edgework, reads, and other skills that make high end speed an afterthought. Fox is one of the smartest players in the game.
If Adam Fox requests a trade, then it becomes a choice of him or Drury
To be abundantly clear, if Adam Fox requests a trade, then it should be Chris Drury that goes, not Fox. This is a guy that used every tool in the CBA to force his way to the Rangers, his childhood team. He wants to be in New York. He wants to be a Ranger. But with how Chris Drury has conducted himself, feel free to refresh your memory here, that joy of playing for the Rangers is no longer there.
If it were any player other than Fox, then it wouldn’t be a big deal. But Fox is the best defenseman this team has seen since Brian Leetch. He’s the only elite talent on the roster outside of Igor Shesterkin. If Adam Fox requests a trade, it should be treated in the same vein as Shesterkin requesting a trade. Or Henrik Lundqvist requesting a trade. Or Leetch requesting a trade. It should never come to it, period.
If Adam Fox requests a trade, the Rangers will regret it. Unlike Hughes, Fox has 3 years remaining on his very team friendly contract. While the return would be an absolute haul, Fox can’t and likely won’t be able to be replaced. There’s a reason why the Rangers haven’t had someone like him since Leetch. They don’t grow on trees and there are no prospects in the system capable of even coming close to what Fox brings on the ice.
Don’t believe me? Go watch Braden Schneider on the top pair. He was objectively lost out there, and for good reason. The Rangers aren’t a good team, and he was exposed. Fox, on the other hand, has been able to do everything he does while dragging around the corpse of Ryan Lindgren. He and Vlad Gavrikov make one of the best top defense pairs in the NHL and, along with Mika Zibanejad, are the only three skaters pulling their weight this season.
There’s a strong argument that trading Fox is the only way to make this retool or rebuild successful. Leveraging the Hughes trade return, he’d bring back four legitimate pieces. But none will have elite level talent right off the bat. As much as we laude the Hughes return, Marco Rossi is not an elite talent and Zeev Buium will not be Quinn Hughes.
If Chris Drury truly believes he can turn this team around in a year or two, then Fox must remain. There’s no logical way for this to be a retool without Fox unless Drury is perfect with his other trades. If Adam Fox requests a trade, then this becomes a rebuild and something that shows that Drury, as a league-worst General Manager, should not be running.
If Adam Fox requests a trade, then it should become a one or the other decision. Fox or Drury? The choice is clear.