Canes can’t sign Harvard’s Fox, trade defenseman to Rangers
Unable to sign Adam Fox, the Carolina Hurricanes have traded the defensive prospect.
The Canes on Tuesday traded Fox, an all-American at Harvard and 2019 Hobey Baker Award finalist, to the New York Rangers for a second-round draft pick in the 2019 NHL draft and a conditional third-round pick in 2020. The 2020 pick becomes a second-rounder if Fox plays 30 NHL games for the Rangers in the 2019-2020 season
The Canes acquired Fox in the June 2018 blockbuster trade with the Calgary Flames that sent forward Elias Lindholm and defenseman Noah Hanifin to the Flames for defenseman Dougie Hamilton, forward Micheal Ferland and Fox.
Fox, a third-round draft pick by the Flames, attended the Canes prospect development camp in Raleigh later in June but was noncommittal about his pro hockey plans. Canes general manager Don Waddell said he was “99.9 percent” certain the Canes would sign the 5-foot-11, 181-pound Fox to his entry-level contract after his college season.
“He’s one of the premier defensemen not in the National Hockey League,” Waddell said then.
But soon after the Harvard season ended, Fox said he might return for his senior season, becoming an unrestricted free agent after the 2019-20 season. That was a leverage move by the Fox camp, and Canes owner Tom Dundon reacted by saying the Canes likely would trade him if a good deal would be made.
Fox was born in Jericho, N.Y., has long been a Rangers fan and likely would have signed with the Rangers if he became an unrestricted free agent next summer.
The Hurricanes now have three second-round picks in June’s draft.
This story was originally published April 30, 2019 at 4:51 PM.
