Carolina Hurricanes top defensive prospect Adam Fox has made it very clear that he has no intention of signing with the team. That places Carolina in a difficult situation with what they intend to do with his rights.
When a highly touted prospect like Adam Fox refuses to sign with the team hold their rights, things can get kind of dicey. That team is now forced to make a decision. After first telling the team he wanted to finish his final year in Harvard, Fox’s agent has come back around to inform the team that Fox has no intention of signing with Caroling.
Here is a well developed player that by all means should be NHL ready after at least three years of playing high level NCAA hockey for Harvard. Do you hold out for one more year in hopes of signing him? Or do you trade his rights away?
For Fox, he wants his rights moved to a team he would rather sign with sooner rather than later so he can knock a year off his entry level rookie deal. He already stated that he wanted to play in the NHL as soon as possible.
Obviously would be better for Fox to have the trade happen sooner than later so he can sign and burn first year of entry-level deal. On other hand, the 'Canes have to do what's right for them. Trading him soon or waiting until summer?
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) April 1, 2019
If you do trade him, when is he most valuable? Who would you trade him to? What kind of return can you see for a prospect like him? All these are questions that Don Waddell will have to answer. For Tom Dundon, a man who wastes little time on formalities the answer was pretty simple when asked:
"“We’ll try to trade him,I think we’ll do OK. We’ll see.”"
The fans may not like that answer. After all, fox was part of a trade that brought in Dougie Hamilton and Michael Ferland at the cost of Elias Lindholm and another high ceiling defender, Noah Hanifin. While the trade looked to be an even trade that benefited both teams at the time, it has since morphed.
Lindholm wasted no time signing a contract with Calgary and burning a serious bridge between himself and Caniacs when he came back to Raleigh by mocking the Storm Surge. On the flip side, Ferland and the Carolina Hurricanes seem to very distant when it comes to coming to an agreement. Making it look very likely that he will walk come July.