Playing the puck carrier and allowing Bennett to go behind you is absolutely the wrong play there to make for Fox. At the worst, Nelson tracks back and catches up to Marner to make a stick check or make the play harder than it was. Fox tried to pick pocket Marner and start an odd man and he got burned.
You’re blaming the wrong guy here.
Fox didn’t lose anyone. He was the unlucky guy defending the defensive breakdown (and I would say if you watch it back there are a lot of players doing the wrong thing).
Nelson was lax getting back (maybe he was tired or something) and was not getting to Marner. Bennett is the trailer there and Nelson has a decent shot to catch him but his indecision on where to go hurt him. Fox can’t abandon the puck carrier and let Marner walk down the middle of the ice to have a 1 on 1 with his goaltender.
And the Bennett shot wasn’t even going to come from a good angle. You’d much rather give up that than Mitch Marner in the absolute middle of the ice uncontested.
Realistically also, that’s a shot the goaltender should stop, so it’s beating to death a guy for being maybe 15% at fault on a goal for not stealing the puck clean when there are others who deserve much larger shares of blame.
Quinn Hughes does not cede something to Fox defensively, he's on par with him defensively because, shocking, his skating ability is world class to Fox's pedestrian skating and makes up for the blunders he has. And the issue is Fox can't handle elite skating talent, you either have to put him with Slavin next year or bury him with sheltered minutes on PP1 and third pair. Fox is most likely a lock but he can't play against the big boys of Canada like last night or a very good top line for other countries. The Matthews and Eichel comparisons are dumb to make between the defensive counterparts we're talking about now.
Are we seriously talking about skating? Did Jack Hughes have an indifferent tournament? Amazing skater. Did Brady Tkachuk have a great tournament? Mediocre skater.
Almost like there’s no need to overemphasize any one attribute for anything. Quinn Hughes is at the peak of his powers. He’s probably the best defenseman in the NHL the last two years. Maybe he’s better than Fox, career-wise. I think you could argue either way, but what I think is revisionist history is acting like he’s in a different tier. He quite simply is not. Hughes has years and years as a bad defensive player. That cannot just be forgotten from his career resume. Adam Fox had never been anything other than elite at virtually everything (offense, defense, transitions). It shows up in the data year after year.
Is he at the peak of his powers right now? Well no, but he’s certainly still a great player and a player can’t always be at their best. Fox has had a much more even career. He certainly won’t have seasons where his defensive charts are pathetic, like you get with Hughes.
Fox can play against anyone. You’re simply overthinking it. Pick your best players. It’s not hard.
