Mailbag: The high price of elite young defencemen

Training camps are just a few weeks away, but there is still plenty that is not yet resolved around the NHL. Whether it’s players potentially looking for a trade, depth charts that aren’t quite clear or pending free agents who are already at the center of contract speculation, we have plenty to go over.

Let’s get to it:

John asks: “How much should Adam Fox cost? How many years? Are he and Cale Makar truly the two best defensemen in hockey?”

Let’s start with that last question first: Fox certainly had the best full season of any defenseman in the league last year and deservedly won the Norris Trophy as a result. And, to your point, Makar probably would have won it each of the last two seasons if he’d been able to stay fully healthy. He played 44 of 56 this past season, and in 2019-20 he played