New York Rangers: Was Adam Fox robbed?

Was he robbed?

The answer is no.  It’s likely that he finished fourth in the voting (we won’t know until after they announce the winner) and the simple fact is that there are only three finalists.  Fox had the misfortune to be a rookie the same season as Makar and Hughes, two of the best young defensemen to make their debuts.

How rare is it to have three superlative defensemen making their debuts in the same year?   Looking at the Calder Trophy voting over the last 20 years, there has not been another season with three defensemen among the top four rookies.    The most was two in 2019 when Rasmus Dahlin and Miro Heiskanen made the list.  11 times there was only one defenseman and seven times there were no defensemen among the top four rookies.

In fact, only three defensemen have won the award (Aaron Ekblad, Tyler Myers and Barret Jackman) so this season is extremely rare and to Fox’s disadvantage.

The hope has to be that Fox will see this as a challenge and that he will prove the voters wrong int the long run by having a better career than Hughes or Makar.  Based on his work this season, it’s entirely possible.   Rangers President John Davidson compares Fox to Sergei Zubov.  Considering that Zubov was just elected to the Hall of Fame, let’s all hope that Davidson is right.