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Adam Fox on how he's thinking about his future with the Rangers: "All I can really do is take it day by day right now and focus on helping this team win." Gregory Shamus / Getty Images
TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — Adam Fox is in new territory.
Though the New York Rangers were sellers at last year’s trade deadline, this year is different from anything the seventh-year defenseman has experienced since turning pro in 2019. On Jan. 16, with Fox on injured reserve, Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury wrote a letter to fans announcing the Rangers would be entering a “retool.” Drury has since traded star winger Artemi Panarin and depth defenseman Carson Soucy. More players will almost certainly follow ahead of Friday’s deadline.
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“When you put out a letter, it kind of shocks everyone, and we’re no different than anyone else,” Fox told The Athletic on Wednesday.
Fox has missed 27 games to injury this season, including a 13-game span after suffering a lower-body injury Jan. 5. In total, the Rangers are 15-13-5 with Fox in the lineup and a disastrous 8-16-3 without him. Watching the team struggle was hard for Fox; he said he felt helpless while out of the lineup.
Because he had been on IR, Fox didn’t make his first public comments about Drury’s letter until postgame Thursday. Asked directly about whether he wants to stay with the Rangers through a retool, he said it was a conversation for after the season. The comments caused a stir among fans and cast some doubt on the star defenseman’s future.
Fox, the 2021 Norris Trophy winner, isn’t oblivious. He mentioned on Wednesday that he knew his response “blew up” online. Asked what he needs to see from Rangers management to feel happy with the team’s direction, he acknowledged that “there’s changes coming and a lot of unpredictability.”
“I’ve been a Ranger my whole life, pretty much, and I’m very proud to be a Ranger,” the 28-year-old said. “I think it’s just one of those things with the deadline (approaching) and everything — and, of course, when you send out a letter — there’s expectation of changes to be made. So, I think there’s just a lot of things that can change, can go on, so — like I was trying to articulate — all I can really do is take it day by day right now and focus on helping this team win.”
“Guys might not be here two days from now,” he continued. “So, I just think a lot changes in this league. Looking back three, four months ago, no one thought we’d be in this position where we’re losing key guys and everything like that. I think for me it’s just how everything unfolds.”
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He said it’s hard to sort through everything as games are going on, so he’s focusing on finishing the year strong and building momentum going into the summer.
“When you have a lot of time to process and digest everything, I think that’s when you kind of evaluate the landscape,” he said.
Fox, who has a full no-movement clause and is under contract through 2028-29, has performed admirably when healthy this season. He and free agent signing Vladislav Gavrikov have fit seamlessly as partners; Fox believes they “complement each other really well.” Among defensemen, only Colorado’s Cale Makar has a better average game score than Fox. The Rangers have 61.20 percent of the expected goal share with him on the ice at five-on-five. His next closest teammate (minimum 10 games) is Alexis Lafrenière at 54.26. With Panarin traded, he’s unquestionably the most important skater on the team.
That hasn’t stopped the defenseman from finding himself in headlines this season, often for reasons outside his control. He was a surprise snub from Team USA’s Olympic roster, and he said in the aftermath that he felt his play and track record were worthy of inclusion. Rangers coach Mike Sullivan was the American head coach, and Drury was an assistant general manager for the team, so they were part of Team USA’s brain trust. That created the potential for tension, though the Rangers have maintained that both Drury and Sullivan advocated for Fox. Team USA general manager Bill Guerin made the ultimate decision.
Despite his disappointment at not being included on the roster, Fox said he watched Team USA’s later-round games and cheered the Americans on. The U.S. won gold, defeating Canada in overtime.
“It was special for those guys,” Fox said. “I played with a bunch of them. The Gaudreau family (coming to the ice) after the game, that’s special for anyone watching. … It was good hockey. I think everyone was watching that.”
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Seth Jones, one of Team USA’s initial inclusions on defense, missed the Olympics with an upper-body injury. Fox was hurt when Team USA decided on a replacement: Anaheim’s Jackson LaCombe, who received a gold medal but did not appear in any games. Sullivan told reporters before the Olympics that Fox’s injury impacted the U.S. decision-making process after Jones’ injury.
Fox said Team USA management did not have conversations with him about his injury timeline before adding LaCombe to the roster. He added that “it was good for me to take the time to get healthy.”
Asked about his relationship with Sullivan in the aftermath of the Olympic decisions, Fox said: “It’s business.”
“I’m not going to sulk over something,” he said. “There’s no point in time and energy doing that. Using that (Olympic) break to come in and try and help the Rangers. I think that’s where my focus has been, where it’s always been.”
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Peter Baugh is a staff writer for The Athletic NHL based in New York. He has previously been published in the Columbia Missourian, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Kansas City Star, Politico and the Washington Post. A St. Louis native, Peter graduated from the University of Missouri and previously covered the Missouri Tigers and the Colorado Avalanche for The Athletic. Follow Peter on Twitter @Peter_Baugh
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