10/24/24 | Darren Dreger says that as many as 20 teams expressed interest in Trouba last summer and added “if you look to the summer coming up, perhaps the Rangers entertain trade again and I can assure you that if he goes to the Western Conference, where he’d prefer, there would be a crowd. (TSN.ca)
9/18/24: Larry Brooks writes that there were “multiple interested parties” in Trouba but “word circulated quickly” that Trouba would not report if traded anywhere. (NY Post)
7/16/24: Arthur Staple writes at The Athletic that “there was never anything close” between the Rangers and Red Wings.
7/9/24 | Emily Kaplan said on TSN about Trouba, “If I had to put my money on it right now, my gut is that he’ll be on the Rangers opening night roster even though this was a really uncomfortable process over these last several days and weeks. GM Chris Drury really wanted to be aggressive this offseason and shake up the roster and he did that with Barclay Goodrow and that caught Goodrow way off guard and the rest of the team noticed. He knew that if he was going to move Jacob Trouba, and he explored doing it, he’d have to let his Captain know especially because his trade protection kicked in. There was a deal in place with the Red Wings I am told and Jacob used the power given to him that he earned in his contract, to block it. Unless something changes now in the next three months for both the Rangers and one of the 15 teams on his roster, he’s’ going to come back to this team and we’ll see what kind of Captain and how strong the leadership is for the Rangers because this was a really awkward and uncomfortable situation behind the scenes.
7/2/24 | 3:46PM: Emily Kaplan tweets that the Rangers have “explored” trading Trouba and that he’s been “exercising power” from his 15-team no-trade list.
7/1/24 | After days of rumors, Jacob Trouba remains both a member and the Captain of the Rangers.
It was rumored over the weekend that the Rangers were preparing to trade Trouba to the Red Wings and retain $2.5 million in cap space.
Larry Brooks now writes that this supposed trade was “not on the table” and that Trouba did not reject any move to the Red Wings. (NY Post)
Brooks adds that Trouba’s no-move clause was slated to turn into a 15-team no-trade clause after five seasons because that would coincide with when his wife’s medical residency at her NY hospital was slated to end. Her residency was deferred a year and will now finish next July. (NY Post)
He adds that teams that were expected to be interested in Trouba may now wait until next season to pursue him and that conversations between the Rangers, Trouba and his agent have remained “professional” and won’t impact his role as Captain. (NY Post)
Adam Rotter: One of the main reasons, though probably not the reason that Trouba wanted out of Winnipeg was so that he could play either in the City where his wife was going to medical school or at least close by. He got that with the Rangers and it’s certainly understandable if that is, along with feeling that the Rangers can win the Stanley Cup, the main reason why he wants to remain. It’s possible that he and his agent structured his no-trade list in a way that will more than likely keep him a Ranger.
One of the reports over the weekend, late on Saturday when the tide seemed like it was starting to shift and push back on the idea that Trouba would be moved, indicated that he “very much wants to stay in NY for at least one more year.” That struck me as odd, but makes more sense now. It’s also that moving Trouba next year, when his no-trade list goes from 15 teams down to 12, still fits with the Rangers desire to clear cap space before the extensions for Igor Shesterkin, Alexis Lafreniere and K’Andre Miller. I’m sure they would still like to clear cap space, but there don’t appear to be any more big fish forwards and not many players who could fill Trouba’s spot anyway.
Maybe everyone was ahead of themselves with all these reports or maybe, despite his preference to stay, he still gets dealt. Outside of maybe one early morning mention, Trouba wasn’t talked about at all during most of the Free Agency coverage today. There was plenty to focus on with all that Nashville did, what Tampa and the Devils did and others, but I just kept waiting to hear something, anything about Trouba being made and it never came. It doesn’t mean that Trouba doesn’t get moved tomorrow, but what seemed like a lock over the weekend it now seems a lot less likely.
7/16/24 | Adam Rotter: At this point Trouba is almost certainly going to remain with the Rangers and how close or not close they came to trading him will differ from report to report and person to person. The answer is almost certainly somewhere in the middle of them not being close to a deal at all to Trouba actually blocking a done deal between the Rangers and Red Wings.
The only thing that seems certain is that the Rangers did explore moving Trouba and seemed to do so for salary cap reasons as opposed to his play on the ice. What is less certain is whether Trouba deliberately squashed the done deal between the Rangers or Red Wings or did so passively by just having Detroit on his no-trade list. It’s a little bit of semantics, but I do think there is a difference between Trouba submitting his list and it including the Red Wings and Trouba actually being presented with a done deal to send him to Detroit and him blocking it.
It also does seem like that even though Trouba has two-years left on his deal, that his will be his last year with the Rangers. His no-trade list drops from 15 to 12 next summer and he should be more amendable to a trade after his wife finished up her residency. It’s also next summer when the Rangers will need as much cap space as possible.