3:31PM: Drury released this statement as part of the official trade release:, “I want to sincerely thank Jacob for his contributions to the Rangers and our community. Jacob has been an example on and off the ice for our organization and played a major role in our success over the last several years. Since coming to New York five years ago, and serving as Captain for the last three seasons, he has demonstrated grit, toughness, and tremendous leadership and we can’t thank Jacob enough for everything he has done for the Rangers.”
2:55PM: The Rangers have traded Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks for Urho Vaakanainen and a fourth round pick in 2025.
The Rangers are NOT retaining any salary in the trade.
Vaakanainen, 25, has a cap hit of $1.1 million this season and is a UFA at the end of the season. The Rangers could send him to Hartford and remove his salary from the cap.
Trouba reportedly refused to waive his no-trade clause to go to Columbus. (Portzline)
The Red Wings were also reportedly interested in acquiring Trouba but couldn’t come to terms on a trade. (Kaplan)
3:37PM: Ducks GM Pat Verbeek said in a statement “Jacob is a highly respected player in this league whose character and leadership qualities on and off the ice are second to none. We believe Jacob has many more years in this league and hope he is a big part of our future success. It’s rare you are able to acquire a player with Jacob’s experience, stature and ability. On the ice he competes every shift, leads by example and is a presence on the blue line every night.”
Adam Rotter: There is a lot to unpack now that Trouba has officially been traded. Chris Drury was determined to make a change and he managed to extricate Trouba from the team without resorting to waivers or retaining salary.
I’m a little shocked at the return being as much as it is. I thought that with the situation as it is and the way Trouba had been playing that a win would have been maybe only retaining $2 million of the contract and maybe a late round pick in return. Instead Drury lands a fourth round pick, which could be used to make another move, a depth defenseman in Vaakanainen that is still relatively young and, most importantly, not retain any salary. I didn’t think Drury had any leverage in these trade talks and that the goal was to just get Trouba off the roster and his cap hit as much off the roster as he could, but instead he clears everything and gets a player and a pick. You can question how he goes about conducting his business, but being able to clear Barclay Goodrow and Jacob Trouba’s contracts without keeping any money is a tremendous win by Drury.
As for how this impacts things immediately for the Rangers, the biggest question is whether they will name a new Captain or not. There are no obvious candidates with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider being passed over year after year from the time Ryan McDonagh was traded to when Trouba was named Captain. When I thought Trouba was going to be moved in the offseason I thought Vincent Trocheck would be a good choice to replace him as Captain and that still holds to a degree even though he hasn’t performed as well as last season. When Trouba was named Captain I thought that when his time was up it would be Adam Fox to replace him, but I’m not sure they want to put that on him right now. Ryan Lindgren could have been an option but he’s a UFA and has struggled himself this season. So maybe the Rangers go without a Captain again or Drury makes another move to bring someone in. Long-term I would still expect it to be Fox at some point unless either Alexis Lafreniere becomes a superstar and assumes that role or the Rangers eventually bring in someone to fill that role.
Braden Schneider also steps into the bigger role and more minutes that he deserves on defense. Victor Mancini will also get a chance to show if he is ready to make a consistent impact in the NHL. Maybe they can find something in Vaakanainen or maybe he gets waived at some point in an effort to clear out even more cap space.
With Trouba, he was brought in and paid to be a number one defenseman but he struggled to live up to that. He was a solid player and a top-four defenseman for most of his time with the Rangers but he was paid to be more than that. Some of that was out of his control a bit as you’d expect an $8 million dollar defenseman to be a major part of the PP, like he was in his last year in Winnipeg, but Tony DeAngelo and then, obviously, Adam Fox had that role. Without that offense and PP time it was always going to be tough to live up to that $8 million dollar salary. He tried to make up for some of it with his physicality and leadership but every mistake he made with the puck or in coverage was amplified because of his salary and status as Captain.
It’s a tough ending for Trouba and coincidentally, or not, the third straight Captain to be traded during the season. But for the Rangers it’s a tremendous win to clear all that salary cap space not just for now, but also to avoid this being an issue in the offseason. Chris Drury is a pretty ruthless and determined GM. He’s not afraid to make tough calls, not afraid to cut loose long-term team employees and not afraid to effectively dump your Captain in the middle of the season.
Now we wait and see what impact this has on the ice. I don’t expect Drury to be done, but how the team responds will probably determine if the next move is for depth or if there is something bigger coming.