Adam Fox has been better than advertised so far

Growing pains are expected for a rebuild, and the Rangers sure are going through a bunch of their own. While the focus is on 2C, Lias Andersson, Filip Chytil, and the way David Quinn has deployed his lines, Adam Fox has very quietly shown us what he can do, and it’s been impressive.

Fox was billed as an offensively minded defenseman who can move the puck with the best of them. His poise with the puck, as illustrated above, is also very good. He doesn’t panic, he doesn’t just throw the puck away. He trusts his skill in the face of pressure and finds the right play to continue the offensive pressure.

His passing has been one of the lone bright spots on the blue line, and perhaps the only positive outside of the goaltending, Mika Zibanejad, and Artemi Panarin on this Rangers team to date.

He’s also very smart, reading plays well. Through seven games, he’s been everything that the Rangers could have hoped for.

It really shows in his stats too. Fox is tops among Rangers defensemen right now with a 52.46 xGF% (1.82 xGA/60) and a 52.84 CF%. Those are three key possession and defensive stats that you want to see from your rookie, and he’s been nothing short of great so far. He’s even outpaced Jacob Trouba, but Trouba gets the fan fare with the points so far.

Interestingly enough, Fox only averages 13:49 at even strength, lowest on the team and a full minute less than the next man (Tony DeAngelo). Part of his ice time and results are likely due to Quinn sheltering him and easing him into the rigors of the NHL. It’s clear Fox can handle more workload to see what he can do.

All of the above videos and stats manifest itself in the heatmaps above. The top two are shots for the Rangers when Fox is on the ice (top left) and not on the ice (top right). The Rangers are around league average when he’s on the ice, but are 10% below league average when he’s off the ice. That is what you’d expect given Fox’s skill set. The best part here is the bottom half, which is shots against the Rangers when Fox is on the ice (bottom left) and when Fox isn’t on the ice (bottom right). Those speak for themselves. Fox, plan and simple, has been a significant net positive when on the ice and the Rangers are far worse when he is on the bench.

One last look at Fox, and this is his impact on his teammates. Bright blue is where Fox is without any specific player, and he’s generally hovering around average if a little dull. All the red boxes are how those players perform when Fox isn’t on the ice with them. The purple? (I’m colorblind) boxes are how the players perform with Fox on the ice. Every single player is better with Fox than without him, except for Libor Hajek. That’s something.

In a month of negatives, sloppy hockey, and lack of structure, Adam Fox has been one of the few bright spots that we can point at as a positive so far this season. This is a small sample size, and Fox will most certainly have his troubles, but in the first month of his NHL career, it’s clear why the Rangers were comfortable making the trade for him this past spring.