The costs of having a good defenseman is only getting more expensive. That was evident this offseason, after Cale Makar received a lucrative extension which made him the first player in NHL history to earn an annual salary of over $20 million. Then, there was Zeev Buium, who after being dealt to the Vancouver Canucks last December in the Quinn Hughes trade, received an eight-year extension with a $9.38 million annual salary.
With these most recent moves, NHL teams are going to be looking at their top defensemen and realizing they will have to give them new deals. For the New York Rangers, their undisputed top defenseman is Adam Fox. While his reputation did take a hit in the past two years, he is a vital piece to the Rangers. Without him, the team is cooked. He is under contract for the next three years in what has become an affordable $9.5 million per year.
But with the current landscape of the NHL with stars requesting trades, the Rangers need to ensure this upcoming season is a successful one to avoid a Dylan Larkin or Connor Hellebuyck situation.
Adam Fox hinted at potential exit from Rangers last season
Last season, the Rangers were expected to take a significant step forward. They hired head coach Mike Sullivan away from the rival Pittsburgh Penguins, a move they've been eyeing for years. Yet, the team took a significant step backwards. As in, managed to finish last place in the entire Eastern Conference. Factors like injuries to key players like Fox, lackluster performances from top players like J.T. Miller, and the tea having anything but home ice advantage led to the team's collapse.
As the injuries piled up in January, with Fox and goalie Igor Shesterkin sidelined, Rangers general manager Chris Drury sent a letter out to the league that the team was abandoning a playoff push and instead looking to retool the roster. With that, meant certain top players could be dealt in an effort to bring in young and pro-ready players in return.
When Fox returned from his injury after the letter was sent out to fans, he was asked if he would commit to being a part of the Rangers' future. Fox then sent the fanbase into a panic after giving a noncommittal answer regarding his future, leaving fans wondering if Drury was on his way to sending another top player out of New York.
"I'm just trying to focus on this year right now," said Fox after a Feb. 26 game. "That's a conversation when we're done playing games. We're just trying to win games, we didn't do that tonight. That's where my focus is right now"
That's not exactly the thing the Rangers fanbase wanted to hear, especially as they fell further into the abyss that was last place in the conference. Would Fox be one of the players traded as part of the retool? Does he want to stay.
Even though the team missed out on the playoffs by a significant margin, there were some promising signs from their younger players. Gabe Perreault, Adam Sykora, Jaroslav Chmelar, Drew Fortescue, and Dylan Garand all played well in the latter portion of the season, and helped propel them to some wins. After the regular season ended, Fox commented on the promising signs he saw on the team, and he sounded a bit more committed to the team heading into the summer.
“For me, it was just, we’re still in a unique situation,” Fox told The Athletic. “Not many people have been through a retool letter and kind of what that means, so I think that’s kind of where the figuring out stuff was from. It was never really about belief in the guys. It was just kind of direction and where it’s going. I think that’s where I was at. But obviously there’s been some promising signs of the possibilities of the kind of team we can be.”
Chris Drury's offseason gambles must be enough to avoid a Dylan Larkin situation with Adam Fox
This offseason, Drury unveiled his plan through a flurry of moves, with the most substantial arriving through the trade market. Drury traded multiple first round picks to the Vegas Golden Knights for winger Pavel Dorofeyev, while also handing him a seven-year, $77 million contract extension. Then, they traded a future first-rounder for defenseman Marcus Pettersson, reuniting him with Sullivan. Their next big move of the retool was acquiring defenseman Sean Durzi and center prospect Cole Beaudoin from the Utah Mammoth in exchange for Vincent Trocheck.
Add some free agent signings in wingers Oliver Bjorkstrand and Eeli Tolvanen and center Joe Veleno, and the Rangers roster looks set heading into training camp. On paper, this should give the Rangers a better chance of escaping the basement of the Eastern Conference and potentially make it back into playoff position. They will need to do so, considering the draft capital they surrendered to retool instead of rebuild.
Fans have seen some of the top players in the league take matters into their own hands and requests trades off of their teams. Brady Tkachuk, despite essentially calling trade rumors surrounding him bogus, forced his way from the Ottawa Senators to join his older brother Matthew on the Florida Panthers. Then, there's Hellebuyck, who is looking to leave the Winnipeg Jets while putting out a public statement to confirm he wanted a trade. Perhaps the most talked about trade request was Larkin.
Back in June, reports indicated that Larkin requested a trade from the Detroit Red Wings after the team's playoff drought extended to 10 seasons. That, and Larkin's relationship with general manager Steve Yzerman had gone south. Reports indicated Larkin would only request a trade to the Vegas Golden Knights, Minnesota Wild, or Panthers. Then, Yzerman stepped down as general manager. Now, with training camp approaching, the Red Wings still don't have a head of hockey operations and Larkin has not spoke publicly about his request. So, there is a gigantic holding pattern in Detroit, with seemingly no end in sight.
The last thing the Rangers want to deal with is Fox, their best defenseman and power play quarterback, to get so irritated by the negative direction of the team to want out. Let's face it, the Rangers don't have anyone that can replace him. Sure, the hope is that first-round pick Alberts Smits can be their top defenseman, but that might take some time for that to come to fruition. The Rangers are a better team with Fox on it. So, they'll need this upcoming season to be a success to avoid a potential divorce with one of their best players.
Oh, and eventual contract talks if Fox does want a pay raise, especially if he wants to get near the Makar territory.
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