Fox plays a shitty pass up the wall, is slow getting out to the blue line, turns the wrong way, and gets completely spun by Marner. A lot of guys could have done better, but he was the main culprit.
Stop. It's at the end of the shift. That is a typical type of pass up the wall to have your forward tip it along into the zone, and for everyone to change.
The forward there is supposed to tip the puck or at least tie it up and make it difficult. Blaming his pass is completely reaching. It was like a B- level pass. It was not a "bad" pass.
Fox was expecting to change (like numerous other players) because he didn't expect Canada to emerge cleanly with the puck into the American zone in warps speed time. Of course he didn't initially have proper body shape to defend that rush. He shouldn't have had to defend it.
Calling him the main culprit is completely insane. He's probably like the fourth most to blame there (Hellebuyck, Nelson, the forward on the boards there, arguably the LW for just vacating the play because it would've allowed Hanifin to take Marner (as opposed to the forward who dragged him wide) and Fox to take Bennett.
You are essentially blaming a guy defending an odd man run for not making a hero play on the puck. Fox played it exactly as he should've. He took the puck carrier, didn't allow him to walk down the middle of the ice and get a shot, and forced Marner to pass it to the wide trailer at a bad angle. What he could've done better is time the hero play well, which is easier said than done.
The same goes for the OT winner, where he takes an awful route behind the net for no f***ing reason and just completely takes himself out of the play.
"Takes him out of a play" on a play where the goal being scored had literally nothing to do with him.
And what he was doing is trying to tie up (with a crosscheck) the forward standing in front of the goaltender. The right defenseman for Canada wound up to slap at the puck. Ended up being around the boards, but could've been to slap it at the net, and hope for a deflection in front.
The only mistake he made there was not anticipating the slap pass instead of the slapshot. But even if he makes the right read, I'm not sure how that makes a difference towards the goal. Once he moves over to the middle of the ice (which he should because Hanifin was not properly marking anyone), he's not getting back over there to cover the pass to McDavid.
The US team was unfortunately just dragged too far across the ice (notice Hanifin marking air), the puck got back across to the other side immediately, and Matthews and Hughes didn't really react with quick thinking which left McDavid open.
He had a really bad tournament with a lot of major mistakes and didn't make up for it on the offensive end at all. He consistently looked behind the pace in a way that none of the other USA defenseman did. I get that it's a small sample but it's the only sample of international play we have and he hasn't been crushing it in the NHL this season either. It's by far the US' deepest position group and this wouldn't be a case of leaving him off for a Paul Martin in 2014 type -- he's pretty clearly on the outside looking in for me.
What are these major mistakes? He quite literally had a positive defensive impact. He was only on the ice for two goals against. If he had these major mistakes, wouldn't it reflect in the analytics?
And how is he not having a good season? He's 8th in the NHL in P/GP for defensemen. Is that supposed to be bad? Oh no, he's 8th this year and not 4th (4-8 are separated by only .11)!
