New York Rangers swing trade for defense prospect Adam Fox

No president, no problem. New York Rangers GM Jeff Gorton is still open for business. Tuesday he made a trade with Carolina for highly rated defense prospect Adam Fox.

It’s business as usual for New York Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton. It doesn’t matter if he has a boss or not, the GM is making deals. Tuesday Gorton acquired Harvard defenseman Adam Fox from the Hurricanes. The Blueshirts sent their 2019 second round pick and a conditional 2020 third round pick to Carolina.

The deal was certainly a curiosity because teams don’t usually announce trades during the playoffs, especially when one of the teams involved is still in it. How Gorton pulled off the deal is as much of a surprise as that he did it.

Fox is a local product hailing from Jericho in Nassau County and grew up a New York Rangers fan. After playing for the US National Team Development Program to finish out high school, Fox went to Harvard University. In 97 games for the Crimson over three seasons, he scored 116 points.

Last season, Fox was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award given to the top collegiate player in the country. He scored 48 points in 33 games in 2018-19. Aside from playing for Harvard, Fox has been a member of the US National Team at the World Junior Championships the past two years.

As a result of the trade, Fox easily becomes one of the Rangers top three prospects and surpasses K’Andre Miller as their best defensive prospect. Watching him play, it’s easy to see why Gorton had to get Fox into the organization. All the offensive tools are there, skating ability, vision, passing, and a nice hard right-handed shot. Dobber prospects had a good synopsis of his abilities leading up to the 2016 draft.

"Fox is an offensive wizard. He finds ways to gather assists like the greatest easter egg hunter. He plays with a confidence and authority that is hard to miss. His stickhandling, vision, ability to get shots through quickly from the point are elite in his draft class."

The way this deal is structured presents some interesting issues for the New York Rangers. As mentioned above, there is a conditional 2020 third round pick involved. If Fox plays in 30 games for the Blueshirts next season, that pick gets upgraded to a second rounder.

Obviously, he can play and right-handed shooting defensemen are like lefty relievers in baseball, every team needs them. The 21-year-old still has a year of eligibility left at Harvard. Do the Rangers sign him and bring him to training camp? Do they let him finish up at Harvard and join the team when the Crimson’s 2019-20 season ends?

Whatever the New York Rangers brain trust decides, they have a quality player at their disposal. This was a great move.