As the NHL continues to usher in a wave of talented young defenseman, New York Rangers blueliner Adam Fox is slowly being forgotten about, while facing some undeserved criticism.
The 2025-26 NHL season was an odd one for Adam Fox.
He entered the year highly regarded among his peers and with the expectation of representing Team USA at the Olympics and helping the New York Rangers compete for a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
An injury that forced him to miss 27 games hampered his ability to do either. Fox was snubbed by Team USA, which was coached by his Rangers coach, Mike Sullivan, and the Rangers failed to make the playoffs, finishing 30th in the NHL.
Despite the shortcomings, the 28-year-old finished the season with nine goals and 53 points in 55 games, posting a plus-5 rating despite the Rangers finishing with a goal differential of minus-12. Additionally, he posted outstanding underlying metrics.
Fox put together a team-high expected goals for percentage of 58.63 at 5-on-5, with the second-closest being Alexis Lafreniere at 53.45 percent, according to NaturalStatTrick.
In those same on-ice scenarios, the Rangers also outscored their opponents 45-34, had a high-danger chances percentage of 63.76, and a Corsi-For percentage of 55.56.
The Rangers were clearly a far better team with Fox on the ice, so why was he snubbed from Team USA, and why did he rank 13th on the NHL Network’s top 20 defenseman list?
If the stats show that Fox is still among the league's elite, why is there still uncertainty around his game?
That can be attributed to two items. Firstly, Fox is far from a speedster. In the five seasons NHL EDGE has tracked skating speed, Fox has finished above the 50th percentile just once, in the 2021-22 season, when he recorded 21.65 miles per hour.
Most recently, Fox failed to rank above the 50th percentile in any of the league's tracked skating categories. That includes maximum skating speed, 22-plus miles-per-hour bursts, 20-22 miles-per-hour bursts, and 18-20 miles-per-hour bursts.
In an era defined by smooth-skating defensemen like Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, Zach Werenski, Ramus Dahlin, Lane Hutson and Matthew Schaefer, Fox has had to be effective in other ways.
Fox processes the game quicker than almost any player in the NHL. He uses little fakes to create separation on retrievals and also knows where his next pass needs to be. He finds lanes to move the puck and can manipulate defenders to create passing lanes.
While Fox doesn’t break open the game with high-speed skating like the NHL’s elite, he also doesn’t possess the size many of them possess. Fox stands just 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds and isn’t known for throwing his weight around. His career high in hits for a season is just 44.
As NHL teams continue to look for defensemen above six-foot who can skate like the wind, Fox will continue to stick out like a sore thumb.
But why should that matter? A right-handed defenseman with 422 points in 486 career games, a Norris Trophy and three other top-five finishes in the Norris voting should not receive the amount of criticism he has faced because he isn’t as big as Victor Hedman, or because he isn’t as fast as Makar.
When he is on the ice, the Rangers are in a better situation to win, both in the regular season and in the playoffs. Fox has led the Rangers in ice time in all but two seasons of his career, quarterbacking the top power-play unit, killing penalties, and taking on tough matchups.
If the Rangers do turn things around, it will likely be from Fox’s play, and the discourse surrounding him will likely fade as the Rangers succeed.
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