LAS VEGAS — Standing in front of a banner advertising the Four Nations Face-Off in February, representing Team USA in a ballroom at the Encore Hotel, Quinn Hughes was asked about his ideal defensive partner for the NHL-sponsored tournament.
“I mean, anybody they pick is going to be an ideal partner,” the Canucks defenseman said. “That’s how good the roster is going to be, but [the Bruins’ Charlie] McAvoy is a great player and [the Rangers’] Adam Fox is an unbelievable player — also both righties. Can play with both of them easily.”
This is the type of fun scenario select NHL players get to think about ahead of their return to international play for the first time since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Hughes, McAvoy and Fox, as well as the Golden Knights’ Jack Eichel, the Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk and the Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews, were announced on Friday as the first six players on Team USA’s roster for the 2025 event.
Just like every other player who was chosen early to represent their respective countries on Friday, Hughes gushed over the amount of talent Team USA will have and the uniqueness of having played with several of his fellow Americans in the USA Hockey National Development Team Program.
Fox has played with all five of the other players he was chosen with Friday at one point or another, and his former teammates-turned-opponents look forward to playing with the 2021 Norris Trophy winner again.
“Even back at the NTDP, he was a really good player,” Matthews said of Fox, who played with Toronto’s top point producer last season in 2014-15. “I think maybe he was a little bit undersized, so maybe it was kind of like you never know. I think just the way he plays, the confidence and poise that he has, he’s kind of had it his whole life. And from what I’ve seen when we played at the NTDP together, he’s a really special player.”
Skating for the United States in the 2016 U-18 World Junior Championships, the 2017 and 2018 World Junior U-20 Championships and the 2019 World Championships, Fox has posted two goals and 17 assists for 19 points in 29 international games.
He’s also collected two bronze medals (2016, 2018) and a gold medal (2017) in the process.
“He’s one of the elite defensemen in the league,” said Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, who will be the bench boss for Team USA in February. “He’s one of the better power play defensemen in the league. We’ve certainly had our challenges trying to defend against him.”
And speaking of defensive partners, Fox’s with the Rangers, Ryan Lindgren, was also on several of the same USNTDP teams.
Lindgren probably isn’t on a level that would earn him a spot on Team USA in this winter’s best-on-best tournament, which means Hughes actually could get the opportunity to play alongside Fox, but the Rangers still have to get through business with the former to keep their No. 1 defenseman comfortable.
The longtime D partnership between Fox and Lindgren, which dates back to their teenage days, will certainly be a factor in the restricted free agent’s negotiation process this summer.
They’ve been a set NHL duo for years and there’s a comfort level that has benefited the two on the Rangers’ backend.
There’s a possibility that if the two sides don’t come to an agreement that one would eventually file for arbitration, which would result in a one-year deal that would take him to unrestricted free agency next summer.
Fox may be the headlining American Ranger of the day, and, of course, everybody wants to play with him.
The one who actually does on a game-to-game basis, however, still needs to be taken care of by the Rangers.
“It’s pretty special just to think that me, him and [the Avalanche’s and Canada’s Cale] Makar came in all in the same year,” Hughes said of Fox. “There are just so many great players in the league right now and Foxy is one of them, for sure. He’s had a great career so far and it’ll be exciting to play with him.”