Adam Fox getting 9.5 is right on market value, it's really not a hometown discount, and he was never gonna get more than 10.
There are currently only two defensemen who are paid more than 10 mil, and they're Erik Karlsson and Drew Doughty, and neither of them are seen as good contracts. It's important to note, Karlsson, who is the highest paid defenseman in the league, signed his contract in 2019, at a point where he was already established as an all time great, with two Norris trophies, multiple seasons at or near a point per game, and multiple seasons at or near the 20 goal mark. He signed it while his 2017 playoff stint was still fresh in the mind. He's still a great defenseman, but he's never been able to live up to that contract, because to live up to that contract you'd have to be unreasonably good all the time. Doughty, who's the 2nd highest paid defenseman is paid 11M. He didn't quite have the same insane numbers as Karlsson, but he was still established, had a norris trophy, and had a history of being extraordinary in the playoffs. Similar to Karlsson, he hasn't been able to live up to his contract.
Now, the market value for defensemen is not 11 million. Even for the best defensemen in the league, the likes of Josi, Hamilton, and McAvoy, is around 9-9.5 million, and these are all established defensemen who have a history of being in the Norris conversation.
Now, the reference for Adam Fox should be the likes of Makar, Heiskanen, and Hughes, who are all young, extraordinarily talented defenseman, who've all recently signed big contracts. Hughes is the best defenseman on the Canucks and someone who'll be an important part of their core for a long time. Yes, his contract is a discount at 6*7.85M, because of the Canucks cap situation, but even at the high end the talks were still only around the 9mil mark. Heiskanen has the longest term contract at 8 year, but other than that it's pretty similar to Hughes. He's very talented, and will be a part of the Stars core for a long time as a top defenseman in the league. Cale Makar is the highest paid player of the 3, with a 6*9M contract, but he's also already one of the best defensemen in the league. He won the calder in 19-20, and was a finalist for the Norris last season after scoring at a point per game pace as a defenseman. His contract is arguably a discount, but once again, the high end mark was still talked about being around the 9.5-10 mil mark, he was never gonna get close to 11 mil.
Now I quickly wanna mention that the best defenseman in the league, Victor Hedman, and Shea Weber are both paid under 8mil. Not because their contracts signify the market value for defenseman, but because that would be what an actual discount would look like for Fox, around the 8 mil mark.
Adam Fox got 9.5 mil over 7 years, this is pretty much where the market value for the top defensemen in the league is right now. Keep in mind, Fox has yet to play a full 82 game season, he should be amazing for a long time, but he's never gonna get McDavid money for two shortened seasons.
Now can we stop saying Fox is worth 11-13mil, because he just isn't. Thank you for listening to my tedtalk.