LAS VEGAS — Standing in front of a banner advertising the Four Nations Faceoff on behalf of the U.S. national team in a ballroom at the Encore Hotel in February, Quinn Hughes was asked about his ideal defensive partner for the NHL-sponsored tournament.
“So whoever they pick would be an ideal partner,” the Canucks defenceman said. “They’re going to have a lot of good players, but [the Bruins’ Charlie] McAvoy is a great player [the Rangers’] Adam Fox is an unbelievable player. And both pitchers are right-handed. You can play against both of them with ease.”
It’s the kind of fun scenario NHL selectmen have to consider before returning to international action for the first time since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Hughes, McAvoy and Fox were joined on Friday by the Golden Knights’ Jack Eichel, the Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk and the Maple Leafs’ Austin Matthews as the first six players on Team USA’s roster for the 2025 tournament.
Like all of the other players selected early to represent their countries on Friday, Hughes spoke highly of the amount of talent on Team USA and the uniqueness of playing with other Americans in the USA Hockey National Development Team program.
Fox has played alongside all five of the other players selected alongside him on Friday at least once, and his former teammates-turned-opponents are looking forward to playing against the 2021 Norris Trophy winner again.
“Even back in the NTDP, he’s been a really good player,” Matthews said of Fox, who played with Toronto’s top point producer in the 2014-15 season. “Maybe he was a little bit undersized, so it was kind of like you never know what’s going to happen. But the style of his game, the confidence and poise that he has, I think that’s something he’s had his whole life. From our time playing together in the NTDP, he’s a really special player.”
Fox played for the United States at the 2016 U-18 World Junior Championship, the 2017 and 2018 World Junior U-20 Championships and the 2019 World Championship, recording two goals and 17 assists for 19 points in 29 international games.
He also won two bronze medals (2016, 2018) and one gold medal (2017) along the way.
“He’s one of the best defensemen in the league,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, who will serve as the U.S. team’s bench boss in February, said. “He’s one of the better power-play defensemen in the league. Defending against him was certainly a challenge.”
And speaking of defensive partners, Fox’s former Rangers coach Ryan Lindgren was also on the same USNTDP team on multiple occasions.
Lindegren probably isn’t good enough to play for the U.S. national team in this winter’s best-on-best tournament, meaning Hughes could actually get a chance to play alongside Fox, but the Rangers still have to finish negotiations with Lindegren to reassure their No. 1 defenseman.
Fox and Lindegren’s longtime defensive partnership, which dates back to their teenage years, will undoubtedly be a key factor in the negotiating process for restricted free agents this summer.
They’ve been a pairing in the NHL for years, and there’s a comfort level that works in the Rangers’ defense for both of them.
If the two sides can’t come to an agreement, one of them could end up filing for arbitration, which could result in him signing a one-year contract that would make him an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Fox may be the star of the American Rangers today, and of course everyone wants to play with him.
But the players who will actually do it on a game-by-game basis are the ones the Rangers need to deal with.
“Me and him [the Avalanche’s and Canada’s Cale] “Makar and I all came in the same year,” Hughes said of Fox. “There’s a lot of great players in the league right now and Fox is definitely one of them. He’s had a great career so far and I’m excited to play alongside him.”
