Blog Entry #4

Adam Fox is arguably the best defenseman in the NHL, yet with his new seven-year, $66.5 million contract signed on Nov. 1, he will be significantly underpaid.

Fox, the reigning Norris Trophy winner and an early frontrunner to repeat for the award, is going to be paid as only the fourth-highest defenseman and 17th highest player in 2022 with an AAV of $9.5 million. His overall ranking for that list is only going to decrease as the years go on. That’s the benefit of skipping a bridge deal.

As the salary cap presumably continues to grow year by year, the top salaries will continue to expand. That’s generally the rule for every sport, more pronounced in football with the term “highest paid in history at his position” being a regular term with each superstar contract signed. That stays true in hockey, as seven years ago when the cap was about $10 million less than today’s $81.5 million, Fox’s contract would make him the highest-paid defenseman by AAV and would be tied for the fourth-highest cap hit in all of hockey. Seven years from now the same trend will continue.

Fox signed his contract in a year where the salary cap stayed the same as the previous two seasons—a covid consequence—which likely relates to why he wasn’t rewarded with the biggest defenseman AAV in the league. A two-year bridge deal, a common occurrence for young superstars, would have delayed his payday and in turn, would get Fox more AAV over the course of the contract he signed. But he avoided it.

When Erik Karlsson signed his eight-year $11.5 million AAV contract at 29 years old, he was one of the best defensemen in the league. Drew Doughty was in basically the same situation when he signed nearly an equivalent contract at about the same time.

Then there’s Seth Jones, a good defenseman but nowhere near the best in the league. A few months before Fox signed his extension, Jones signed the exact same contract as Fox—$9.5 million AAV—but for eight years instead of seven.

Just two weeks before Fox signed his extension, Charlie McAvoy signed the exact same contract as Jones. McAvoy is good, but not the reigning Norris winner.

Fox signed a lesser contract than all four of the aforementioned players despite being in the same situation as Karlsson and Doughty, and being better than Jones and McAvoy. That seems criminal if you compare it to the contract situation in football.

The Rangers now have Fox under contract until 2029 at a cheaper rate than most expected. Considering they’re locked into a number of long and expensive contracts, such as Artemi Panarin, Jacob Trouba, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, saving a few million on AAV will pay off quickly and only get better as the years go on, especially if Fox continues to be one of, if not, the best defenseman in the NHL.