New York Rangers acquire rights to Adam Fox

The New York Rangers have acquired the rights to defenseman Adam Fox from the Carolina Hurricanes

The New York Rangers have acquired highly touted defenseman Adam Fox from the Carolina Hurricanes in return for a 2019 second round draft choice and a conditional third round draft choice.  The Rangers have conformed the draft picks as the Ranger’s 2019 second round draft choice (number 37 overall pick) and a conditional third round pick in 2020.  The conditional third rounder in 2020 becomes a second round pick should Fox play 30 or more games with the Rangers in the 2019-20 season.

The 21-year old Fox is a 5’11” 185 pound right shot defenseman who has a skill set that is NHL ready.  He recently completed his junior season for Harvard where in 33 games this past season, Fox scored nine goals and a team-leading 48 points with a plus 23 rating which earned him first team NCAA All American (East) while being named a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award as the top collegiate player in the nation.  Fox helped Team USA win gold at the World Juniors in 2016 and was originally a third round pick (number 66 overall) by the Calgary Flames in the 2016 NHL draft.

He was traded this past summer from Calgary to Carolina along with defenseman Dougie Hamilton and forward Michael Ferland in exchange for defensemen Noah Hanifin and forward Elias Lindholm.

Fox was ranked as high as twelfth on TSN’s Craig Button’s annual list of the Top 50 NHL-affiliated prospects.  He’s an elite puck moving defenseman with outstanding vision and a high offensive potential with a hard shot and is seen as a prototypical power play quarterback.  There are concerns however about his size and ability to defend his own zone.  He projects as a useful second pair defenseman.

Fox is a native of nearby Jericho, New York and has always wanted to play for the Rangers since his skates first hit the ice.  Fox’s name has been prominent in trade discussions since December when he announced his intentions to stay at Harvard for his senior season which would have taken Carolina’s draft rights past expiration.  This potential scenario fueled speculation that Fox would sign with the New York Rangers during the summer of 2020.

As the Crimson’s season ended in the NCAA tournament last month, Carolina General Manager Don Waddell faced steep criticism for last summer’s blockbuster trade with Calgary with the prospect of Ferland turning unrestricted free agent this July coupled with the potential loss of Fox’s draft rights.  It is believed that Waddell was busy on the phone to deal Fox’s rights and Rangers General Manager Jeff Gorton, facing a gaping hole on the right side of his blue line, was able to satisfy the asking price.

While the trade signifies immediacy and expedites the rebuild of the Rangers blue line, some will question the assets that Gorton gave up to acquire Fox now rather than wait out the Hurricanes and sign Fox as an unrestricted college free agent.  Many analysts believed that Gorton wasn’t going to rush in and yield the perceived advantage of waiting until next summer to sign Fox as the Rangers did in acquiring Kevin Hayes in August of 2014.

But perhaps Fox wasn’t prepared to go along with the waiting game or conceding his preference of signing with the Rangers as he was recently quoted as saying, “I know people think I have some plan to sign with the Rangers because of where I grew up,” Fox told The Athletic. “But my dream, my goal, is to play in the NHL as soon as possible.”

It will remain to be seen how this move impacts the rest of the Rangers off-season plans with the upcoming amateur draft as well as the free agent window of July 1st.  The Rangers were projected to be in the running for Jacob Trouba or possibly Erik Karlsson this summer to help fill the defensive right side.

The acquisition of Fox also clouds the future of right side defense holdovers Neal Pionk and Anthony DeAngelo both of whom are restricted free agents this summer of comparable size and game to Fox.   It certainly translates to one or both being dangled as trade assets this summer.

We may be able to see Fox in action in just a few weeks as there are reports that he will be playing at the World Championships for Team USA.  Ranger assistant GM Chris Drury is GM of the team so it makes sense.