Toronto Maple Leafs should keep eye on Adam Fox’s future

Adam Fox is reportedly returning for another season of NCAA which would make him a potential target for the Toronto Maple Leafs next summer.

It is not rare to see a highly touted NHL prospect decide to return to his senior year of college hockey and become a free agent, the Toronto Maple Leafs were trying to recruit one of them in 2016.

Jimmy Vesey decided to return for his senior year at Harvard University where he went on to win the Hobey Baker Award. The Nashville Predators traded his rights to the Buffalo Sabres getting a draft pick in return but unfortunately for Buffalo, they weren’t able to get him signed and Vesey ended up going to the New York Rangers.

A similar situation appears to be playing out for Adam Fox who reportedly informed the Carolina Hurricanes that, like Vesey, he will go back to Harvard for his senior year according to Jeff Cox of the New England Hockey Journal. If the Hurricanes can’t get him signed to a deal then they will find themselves in a similar position as Nashville did in 2016.

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The unfortunate part for Carolina is that Fox was acquired in the trade that sent Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm to the Calgary Flames for Micheal Ferland Dougie Hamilton.  Now Ferland has expressed his interest in trying his luck in free agency and if Fox does the same, it would be a big loss to the Hurricanes. Luckily for them, they still have Hayden Fleury and Jake Bean in the pipeline.

So what does this mean for the Leafs? Well, unlike the Hurricanes, they could use help on the blue line and it is rare to see a prospect as highly touted as Fox become available. He has been in the conversation for the Hobey Baker along with Cale Makar, Joseph Duszak, Quinn Hughes, and Taro Hirose who the other finalists.

It should also be noted that the 21-year-old is a right-handed shot and is coming off a season where he scored nine goals, 39 assists and 48 points in 32 games as a junior. He has also played past two seasons with Team USA at the world juniors.

Obviously, it is no slam dunk for the Leafs to be among the team’s Fox would consider should he reach free agency but you can bet Kyle Dubas is going to keep an eye on him. Now the Leafs will have to hope they can pull off a similar recruiting job as they’ve done with John Tavares.

Should Fox be a defenceman target for the Leafs or would they be wasting their time? What can they do to be an attractive option down the road? Let us know in the comments below.