VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Adam Fox was always going to come with a hefty price tag, and it turned out to be $66.5 million to be exact. Several of his Rangers teammates, however, stressed that the reigning Norris Trophy winner earned every cent.

To the players who have been his teammate since he entered the NHL in 2019-20, Fox is a generational talent who is cornerstone of the team.

In particular, Fox’s defensive partner, Ryan Lindgren, has had a front-row seat to the evolution of the Jericho, N.Y., native. For as long as Lindgren can remember, dating back to when the two were teenagers in the USA Hockey National Team Development Program, Fox has always been a dominant presence on the ice.

“I couldn’t be happier for him,” said Lindgren, who doubles as Fox’s roommate. “Everyone sees what kind of player he is and just how good he is. Everyone heard [about the deal] in the locker room and I don’t think anybody was surprised. He deserves it, you know, just seeing how hard he works in the offseason during the year. How much he cares about the team and the Rangers.”

Even Patrik Nemeth, who has been teammates with Fox for only 10 games after the Rangers’ matchup with the Canucks on Tuesday, has been blown away by the 23-year-old defenseman.

“He’s great, I mean, he won the Norris last year,” Nemeth said. “That obviously tells you something. It’s pretty impressive doing that that early in his career.

“On the ice, just his poise with the puck. He’s really good defensively, too, which it’s hard to be great at both sides of the puck. But he is. I hadn’t really seen him a ton before I got here, so that’s when you really see what he does every shift, every game, every practice. That’s impressive, he’s a world-class player.”

That’s coming from a player who competed alongside another young elite defenseman in the Avalanche’s 2019-20 Calder Trophy winner Cale Makar, who beat out Fox in 2019 for the Hobey Baker Award, given to college hockey’s best player.

After two seasons in Colorado from 2017-2019, Nemeth signed with the Red Wings before the veteran defenseman was shipped back to the Avs in April with 50 percent of his salary retained by Detroit. Nemeth was Makar’s D partner when Makar scored his first NHL goal in the first round of the playoffs against the Flames in 2019.

In attempting to compare the two, Nemeth highlighted Makar’s explosive skating and dynamic presence on the ice, while pointing out Fox’s unmatched hockey IQ and exceptional ice vision.

Since entering the NHL, Fox is the only defenseman in the league who has tallied at least 90 points and has posted a plus-45 rating or better. His nine points (two goals, seven assists) through the first nine games of the season is the most points in that span by a Ranger defenseman since Michael Del Zotto in 2009-10.

“He’s obviously earned every penny of that contract,” defenseman K’Andre Miller said. “The stuff he’s shown over the last couple of years has been very impressive. He’s earned every penny of that and we’re honored to keep him.”