The Adam Fox slander has reached absurd levels recently. A very loud and very wrong minority of fans seem to think Fox is somewhat useless, overpaid, and should be traded because of his performance on the ice. But let’s be abundantly clear: Adam Fox is a top 3 defenseman in the NHL, and this is not up for debate. You can debate the merits of trading him because of his contract/prime lining up with the Rangers rebuild/retool, or because of his lingering knee issues. That’s a perfectly logical discussion. But to argue Fox is “bad” removes all credibility from any argument being made.
Adam Fox is a top 3 defenseman, period
If you’re looking at the title and the first paragraph and already writing this off, then this piece is not for you. It’s clear your opinion won’t be changed by facts. So carry on and move to the comments.
But let’s dive into why Adam Fox is a top 3 defenseman, using good ole stats. Fox is routinely lined up against top competition at 5v5, gets top billing on the powerplay, and–until this season when his minutes started to get limited to reduce wear and tear–plays significant penalty kill time. Ice time is a good stat to start with to determine overall trust in a player. It’s clear that multiple coaching staffs trusted Fox with big minutes at all three strengths. Ice time doesn’t make him a premier defenseman, but it’s a start.
The guys that Fox generally gets compared to are Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, Charlie McAvoy, Victor Hedman, Brock Faber, Rasmus Dahlin, and Zach Werenski. There are others, but it would take 10 years to write something comparing Fox to every defenseman in the NHL. Instead, we go with the cream of the crop to show Adam Fox is a top 3 defenseman in the NHL.
Using Evolving-Hockey’s player cards, Fox is one of two elite two way defensemen. It’s him and Dahlin. Aside from Hedman, every other player is almost entirely offense. Flashy offense, but offense nonetheless. Werenski and Hughes are the two more balanced in this category, with better offensive impacts but significantly lower defensive aspects compared to Fox and Dahlin. Hedman is also 35, so this may be unfair to him at this stage of his career.
Keep in mind, this is not to disparage any of the other defensemen in this comparison. It’s to show Adam Fox is a top 3 defenseman, and the arguments against completely fall apart once there is actual analysis done. The above cards are just for last season, one where many Ranger fans called Fox “bad” and “should be moved.”
One year does not constitute a fair analysis. Over the last three years, which is more of a bigger picture to eliminate outlier seasons, Fox is presented in an even better light.
Fox has the highest defense rating of all 8 defensemen here, plus the third highest offense rating. He is one of two players with an overall 99 rating based on the total package of play at all three strengths in all three zones. Where most of the players here fall short is on defense, specifically McAvoy and Faber. Again Hedman is getting up there in age, so this may not be fair to him.
The argument that Adam Fox is a top 3 defenseman in the NHL is because he is the total package. He is not the fastest skater, Hughes is. He’s not the best offensive defenseman, Hughes and Werenski are. But of this group, he is the best defensively while still being a top three offensive contributor. Adam Fox is a top 3 defenseman in the NHL, and this is no longer up for debate.
What is up for debate is why the conversation skewed to the extreme.
Four Nations, consistency, and top speed
The Fox haters seem to regurgitate the same three arguments: He’s not a good skater, he had a bad Four Nations, and he “isn’t consistent.” All three are easily refuted.
For starters, skating ability isn’t just top speed. No one is debating whether Fox is fast, he’s not. He doesn’t have the high end speed of Quinn Hughes, and that’s fine. Where Fox is still an excellent skater is with his agility, edgework, little head fakes with quick feet to gain a second of open space, and walking the line. These are all inputs into skating. So if you want to give Fox a ‘0’ for speed, he deserves at least a ’95’ for the other aspects of skating.
Any deficiencies in top speed are made up by his situational awareness, escapability, and elusiveness. These are all critical aspects of skating that are overlooked because of flashier top speed that is more easily identified. Fox isn’t a fast skater, no one is arguing otherwise. But that hasn’t impacted his ability to dictate a faster pace of play. When the Rangers were in their prime ‘we may win but I may die’ style of play, Fox put up at least 72 points, culminating with a career year of 17-56-73 in 72 games in the 2023-2024 season.
Aside: That 23-24 year is the year Hughes won the Norris with 17 goals and 75 assists over 82 games. Fox’s 82 game pace was 19 goals and 63 assists. Not that far off…
Consistency is the next piece that comes up regularly, and that seems to be highly focused on Fox’s down year in 2024-2025. Fox “only” put up 10 goals and 51 assists in 74 games. A down year for sure. Everyone has those though. Fox may actually fall into the Henrik Lundqvist category of consistently elite, but never having one of those outlier years where he just completely overtakes the discussion (see: Erik Karlsson in 2023). That’s just how it goes sometimes.
It seems odd that a first year “international tournament” would have such an impact on Fox, but the Four Nations Tournament did just that. Fox had a rough four games, overlapping his down year last season. No one is disputing this. It’s odd that four games in a first year tournament had such an impact to how some view Fox’s impact and ability on the ice. Four games means more than the 486 regular season games, I guess.
Also for the “Fox isn’t a playoff performer” crowd, he has 39 points in 46 career playoff games. In their runs to the Conference Final in 2022 and 2024, Fox put up 5-18-23 in 20 games and 0-8-8 in 16 games. In 2024 he was fighting a knee injury after a knee on knee hit from Nick Jensen in the first round. There was a clear difference in how he looked before and after the injury.
When the Rangers lost to the Devils in 2023, he had 8 assists in the 7 game series.
None of these arguments have any credibility in evaluating Fox’s performance. Adam Fox is a top 3 defenseman in the NHL, and that may be putting it lightly since these are the only critiques of his game.
The Rangers are better with Fox
For those that prefer team record with and without Fox, the Rangers are 271-172-43 with Fox in the lineup and 20-23-7 without him in the lineup. This past season, the Rangers were 8-16-3 without Fox. Previous teams were better, which is why the Rangers were able to survive without him. Last year’s team was driven through Fox, and it showed.
For what it’s worth, it was clear Braden Schneider was overwhelmed in top pairing minutes while Fox was hurt. but that’s a conversation for a different day.
The Rangers were atrocious without Fox this year, and took a step back without him when the team was better in previous years. Perhaps we can thank Erik Gustafsson for that. But it doesn’t take away from Fox’s impact, and if anything continues to illustrate that Adam Fox is a top 3 defenseman in the NHL.
Arguing to trade him shouldn’t be based on performance
If the timeline to compete doesn’t sync up with Fox’s prime and next contract, and if the return can be astronomical like the Quinn Hughes return, then by all means explore trading him. But that is far, far different from arguing to trade him because “he isn’t good” or whatever else we’ve seen yelled from the rafters.
Adam Fox is a top 3 defenseman in the NHL. This is not up for debate. There’s a strong argument that he’s the best overall defenseman in the NHL. The complete package. Not without flaws, but arguably the only defenseman who is consistently ranked top five in offensive and defensive contributions. When compared to his peers above, he stands among the best. Adam Fox is a top 3 defenseman in the NHL, period.