Adam Fox, for some reason, became the topic of many discussions with disgruntled fans. There was good reason to be disgruntled, as the Rangers were trash and more was expected of the leadership group, including Fox. But that displeasure led to odd arguments that Fox wasn’t good and was overpaid. Yet in a down year with likely only 1.5 fully functional knees, Fox still put up 10 goals and 61 points in 74 games while dragging around the corpse of Ryan Lindgren for most of the season.
Adam Fox is a top-three defenseman in the NHL. Full stop.
Fox, if anything, is going to suffer from what I’m going to dub Henrik Lundqvist Syndrome – a product of his own consistency at an elite level, leading others to downplay his body of work on the ice as other defensemen have outlier seasons that look flashier on paper.
There are zero arguments in the “Fox is bad” realm that I will take seriously. He’s off the charts in almost everything, an this includes a step back this past season. In fact, there’s a stronger argument that between his knee never really getting a chance to heal and the Rangers being downright garbage all around last year, this was the best case scenario for Fox. At least on the ice.
Off the ice, Fox deserves as much blame that the rest of the leadership core received for whatever last season was. Perhaps he felt that, as the youngest member of the leadership core, he didn’t have as much weight in the room. That will change this year, as it appears he is on the short list for next captain of the team. The goal for this season is a “return to form” on the ice and a more active leadership role off the ice.
2024-2025 Adam Fox report card grade: A-
More About:Players