When it comes to D-men, welcome to a cap-induced Bizarro World

The fact that Adam Fox of the New York Rangers will be looking to get paid after this season must be keeping Chris Drury up at night. The reigning Norris Trophy winner should command a huge increase over his Entry Level deal and the Rangers would do well to sign him for the maximum eight years.  But the NHL has gone crazy when it comes to defensemen and their salaries.  It’s truly a Bizarro World.

The best news this week was when the Islanders signed 26-year-old Adam Pelech to an eight-year, $46 million contract with an Average Annual Value (AAV) of $5.75 million.   The duo of Pelech and Ryan Pulock is acknowledged to be one of the best defense pairings in the NHL, the top pair on the second best defensive team in the NHL.

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The good news was that Pelech, a Restricted Free Agent (RFA), took a hometown discount to remain on the Island and signed a deal that makes him the 37th highest paid defenseman in the NHL.   Pelech won’t go out and win the Norris Trophy anytime soon, but he signed for less money than defensemen like Nate Schmidt, Matt Dumba, Ryan McDonagh, Torey Krug and Ryan Ellis.

Then, we got news out of Edmonton that they had signed Darnell Nurse to an eight-year, $74 million deal with an AAV of $9.25 million.  What?????

That will make Nurse the fifth highest paid defenseman in the league.  He will be making more money than Cale Makar, Dougie Hamilton, Roman Josi and Alex Pietrangelo.   He’s right up there with Seth Jones and Zach Werenski who also just signed mega-deals.

So, is Ken Holland a complete idiot and is Lou Lamoriello a magician?  And what does this mean for the Rangers’ negotiations with Adam Fox?

Here’s a list of the recent top defensemen signings (from highest to lowest salary):

1. Zach Werenski, 6-years, $9.58 million AAV
2. Seth Jones,  8-years,  $9.5 million AAV
3. Darnell Nurse,  8-years, $9.25 million  AAV
4. Dougie Hamilton, 7-years,  $9 million AAV
5. Cale Makar, 6-years, $9 million AAV
6. Miro Heiskanen, 8-years,  $8.45 million AAV
7. Adam Pelech,  8-years, $5.75 million AAV
8. Brandon Carlo,  6-years, $4.1 million AAV

There are good reasons for some of these payouts.   Werenski got the big bucks because the Blue Jackets had to do something to prove to their fans that they are willing to pay to keep their talent and they have the cap space.  Heiskanen and Makar were RFA’s in the same boat as Fox.  Jones and Hamilton were UFA’s and were free to go anywhere and New Jersey had the cap space to pay Hamilton.  Even Nurse would have been a UFA after this season so his contract keeps him in the fold until he is 35 years old, but did anyone expect that he could sign for over $9 million as a UFA next season?

So, would Adam Fox be willing to sign a team-friendly contract like Adam Pelech? Would an ironclad eight-year contract with a full No Movement Clause be enough for Fox to sign for $9 million or less?  Would knowing that if he took less money for longer term, it would help the team through the days of the flat salary cap?    Would a guarantee that his parents could watch him play just miles from home be enough to get that deal done?

It’s a game of chicken for Chris Drury.  Not knowing what his relationship is with Fox (or his agent), is Drury willing to offer him a bridge deal with the knowledge that in Jacob Trouba, Nils Lundkvist, Zac Jones and Braden Schneider he is already overloaded on the right side?

The simple fact is that Adam Fox wants to play for the Rangers.  He grew up a Ranger fan and orchestrated his trade to the Rangers by threatening to stay in college so he could become a UFA and sign with the Blueshirts.  It’s also a fact that he plays a position that is probably the team’s deepest.  They have no less than five blue chip right shot defensemen in the organization and despite the Norris Trophy, that allows the team to play hardball.

Trading a popular player like Pavel Buchnevich sent a message to the entire team.  Chris Drury wants to build a winner and in a cap-constrained world, he will do what he has to do to make that happen.

Did anyone out there feel just a little bit of regret when Fox won the Norris?  You can be sure that if it inflated his value by $1-2 million, we would have been better off if he won after signing his new deal.

Before anyone goes nuts reading this, this is not meant to advocate for an Adam Fox trade or a wish that he hadn’t won the Norris Trophy.  It’s just a hope that in the age of the flat cap (and we will be there for at least 4-5 more years or longer), he will be more like Adam Pelech and less like Darnell Nurse. Let’s see what happens.