New York Rangers: Was Adam Fox robbed?
By Steve Paulus
The three finalists for the Calder Trophy were announced and New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox wasn’t one of them
Many fans of the New York Rangers feel that Adam Fox could easily be the Calder Trophy winner for his outstanding rookie season. He wasn’t selected as one of the three finalists for the award, behind Cale Makar or the Colorado Avalanche, Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks and Dominik Kubalik of the Chicago Blackhawks. Omitting Fox is unfortunate, but it isn’t without good reason.
There was no doubt that Makar and Hughes were going to be battling for the Calder Trophy. Both had outstanding seasons, statistically better than Fox. As for Kubalik, a late season surge put him in line for Calder contention. His 30 goals were ten more than any other rookie and he was third in points with 46, only behind Makar and Hughes.
Kubalik had only eight goals and 13 points in his first 33 games, but over the last 35 games he had 22 goals and 11 assists, almost a point-a-game pace.
Why not Fox?
One reason Fox didn’t get the nod was his slow start. Unlike Makar and Hughes who were handed key roles with the respective teams, Fox got better as the season went on and was given more responsibility and ice time. In his first 11 games he scored one goal and added one assist. In the next 59, the scored seven goals and added 33 assists for 40 points.
Although his offensive numbers were impressive, they were not as good as Makar and Hughes. Quinn Hughes paced all rookies with 53 points, three points than Makar, but the Colorado rookie also missed a dozen games with injuries.
Perhaps most impressive about Fox is his plus/minus number of +22, the best by far of any rookie this season. Considering that he was paired with another rookie in Ryan LIndgren makes it even more special.
Hughes spent most of the season paired with veteran defenseman Chris Tanev while Makar’s partner was former Rangers prospect Ryan Graves.
The bottom line is that Fox finished tied for fourth in points with 42 and his eight goals were tied with Hughes and behind Makar with 12.