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7 Adam Fox Landing Spots Amid NHL Trade Deadline Rumors
With how down this season has been for the New York Rangers, a new wrinkle was introduced when Adam Fox was left off the United States Olympic roster.
Rangers general manager Chris Drury and coach Mike Sullivan were both key figures in putting together and coaching Team USA, and even though Fox was part of the Four Nations roster, he didn't make the cut for the eventual gold-medal winners in Milan.
With that as the backdrop and the Rangers' descent in the NHL standings, Fox cryptically talked about his future in New York following a recent defeat.
If you're a Rangers fan, you're feeling grim about this, but if you're a fan of a team that's not the Rangers, you've been thinking about ways they could try to make a trade for Fox.
What's worse about how this is playing out for New York is that it feels entirely avoidable. Things could change, but with the deadline looming and a rebuild or retooling of some kind a real possibility, Fox's future with the team feels in real jeopardy.
Every team in the NHL would have interest in the 28-year-old, but we're breaking it down by teams that make the most sense immediately, whether it's as a final piece for a Stanley Cup run or as a player to push their rebuild over the top for the years to come as a future juggernaut.
Keep in mind, Fox has a full no-movement clause, so where he goes would ultimately be up to him, but with how gnarly the situation is in New York, you wonder if anywhere else, but there might be preferable.
Anaheim Ducks
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We're not putting the Anaheim Ducks on our list for the memes, but it just happens to work out that way given how the two teams always seem to make a trade happen with beloved Rangers players.
Sending Fox to the Ducks would allow him to reunite with Jacob Trouba and Chris Kreider, and it would also allow Anaheim to become a menace on the blue line.
Picture Fox joining Trouba, Jackson LaCombe, Olen Zellweger, and Radko Gudas on defense and helping spur an attack that's built around Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, Troy Terry, Beckett Sennecke and Cutter Gauthier.
There are players listed there who would help make a trade for Fox happen a lot easier, but if you're drawing it up on paper, that's a core group that can be a force not just in the West but also in the NHL as a whole.
As good as LaCombe is at helping move the puck on defense, a player like Fox would turbocharge how the Ducks can attack the game from the blue line and on the rush.
When you factor in the mix of forwards to that, it's an overwhelming lineup. You'd also have to think playing in Southern California with a couple of guys he's more than familiar with would be a great way to sell a trade to Fox as well.
If not for how tough it would be for the Rangers to move him, the excitement of watching Anaheim with him running the game from the back end would make it must-see TV.
Carolina Hurricanes
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Admittedly, the possibility of this happening feels really low given Fox's draft rights were traded from Calgary to Carolina in the Dougie Hamilton/Noah Hanifin deal in 2018, and he didn't sign with the Hurricanes, which ultimately traded his rights to the Rangers in 2019.
Coincidentally, 2019 was the year when the Hurricanes returned to the playoffs after a nine-year drought and reached the Eastern Conference Final, and haven't missed the postseason since.
That kind of setup, along with being a perennial contender in the East, makes Carolina an immediately far more attractive situation for a player of Fox's caliber than it was when he was deciding on his NHL future.
Adding Fox to Carolina's blue line would make them terrifying. His mobility with the puck, his ability to drive the offense and create goals would make the 'Canes even more dangerous and push the pace of their game into overdrive.
The Hurricanes are never shy about trying to make a big move, and if they could pry an elite defenseman away from a rival, you'd have to feel a lot stronger about their ability to win the Stanley Cup.
Chicago Blackhawks
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As great as Connor Bedard has been for Chicago this season, the rest of their high-end prospects they're banking on to get them back to the playoffs are having growing pains.
One area they've opened up recently is on defense after dealing Conor Murphy to Edmonton. Although Artyom Levshunov and Sam Rinzel are young and have high ceilings, bringing Fox aboard would give them an elite defender to join Bedard's attack.
The 'Hawks have a boat load of prospects to offer to the Rangers and although Chicago looks like it's well out of the mix in the West this year, a player of Fox's caliber providing the kind of talent from the blue line to spark their offense and all-around game would be a game-changer for them and allow Alex Vlasic the chance to fit into a more well-defined role.
Patience is getting thinner in Chicago for trying to get back to the playoffs and that means having to make bolder moves to better surround Bedard, and there's no question Fox would do that.
Detroit Red Wings
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The Red Wings are playing exciting hockey, and if there's a position they could use an upgrade for a playoff run, it's on defense.
Yes, Moritz Seider has been incredible this year and is a certified Norris Trophy candidate, but imagine if you added a former Norris winner like Fox to their blue line to work alongside him.
Adding Fox to Detroit's lineup would give them an elite one-two punch on the blue line, and having them both connect with Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat, Patrick Kane, and Lucas Raymond would up their attack level significantly.
As much as the Wings rely on Seider to run their defense, having Fox there to shoulder some of that load and add a different wrinkle to their attack would make them that much more dangerous.
Making the salary work is easy, given the Red Wings have the NHL's second-lowest payroll, according to PuckPedia.com, but finding the right players to get both GMs to say yes is the tough part.
Detroit's most attractive younger players are already key contributors to its lineup, and some of its other prospects aren't too far off from being NHL players. That's ideal for the Rangers, but you wonder how much would be too much for Steve Yzerman to pull the trigger on a deal.
Pittsburgh Penguins
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We can already hear you, Rangers fans: "No freakin' way."
We get it, we totally do. Trading Fox already feels like a non-starter and trading him to a rival like the Pittsburgh Penguins would only rub salt in the wound.
The thing is, the Penguins could really stand to use a player like Fox if they're going to solidify themselves in the playoffs and push for a deeper run while they continue to retool the system.
The Penguins have Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang on the right side, and Fox would create an almost incredulous way to upgrade that side of the blue line.
Karlsson has been much better this season and while Letang isn't the player he used to be, he's there for the long haul. GM Kyle Dubas has made it a point to try to retool the blue line around those two as best he can and adding Samuel Girard from Colorado is part of that.
That said, Dubas' cool hand in trying to rebuild on the fly with a roster loaded with future Hall of Famers approaching the end of their careers has been admirable the past couple seasons, but you have to know he's itching to make a big play given where they are in the standings and the playoff race in the East.
Going after Fox is probably a pipe dream for the Pens and a total non-starter for the Rangers, but if there's business to be had, never say never.
San Jose Sharks
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The San Jose Sharks are an exciting young team, but they're also missing an elite puck mover from the blue line to help Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith attack even more efficiently.
Imagine what they could do with Fox as their No. 1 defenseman.
The Sharks are excited about Sam Dickinson's skills on the blue line, but he's also just 19 years old, and while it'll be important for him to grow into the role as a No. 1 defenseman, Fox would do that immediately and alter how much faster they can rise in the Western Conference.
The Sharks are already in contention for the playoffs this season and if they were able to add Fox now, that would be a massive upgrade to their defense corps now and down the road.
San Jose has plenty of prospects to work with to make a deal happen, and while it lacks cap space, it does have LTIR money to cover Fox's $9.5 million cap hit.
Utah Mammoth
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There's no doubt the Utah Mammoth are eager to get to the playoffs, but with GM Bill Armstrong in charge, he's also eager to make a big splash deal to help make it happen. Adding a player like Fox would more than accomplish that.
The Mammoth are on the way up, and they're currently in a wild-card spot tied with the Edmonton Oilers. Their forward group is good and was bolstered by Logan Cooley's return from injury, but their defense corps, led by Mikhail Sergachev, could use a boost.
Adding Fox to play with Sergachev, Sean Durzi, John Marino, Olli Määttä, Ian Cole, and Nate Schmidt would give them an elite top pairing and allow their blue line to be even deeper than it is now.
Utah has cap space to work with, and it does have prospects to tease in a deal with the Rangers to make it work. Being in a new, exciting, up-and-coming market like Salt Lake City creates some mystery about whether a player with a no-move clause like Fox would approve such a move.
Given how well Utah has played and how fun its style of play is, you'd like to think it would be an easy sell.
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