The New York Rangers rebuild received an earlier-than-expected spark on Monday night when they acquired talented young defenseman Jacob Trouba from the Winnipeg Jets.
The price for the 25-year-old was a tame one as Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton had to give up defenseman Neal Pionk and the No. 20 pick of the 2019 draft in return. That No. 20 pick was originally owned by the Jets, who shipped it to the Rangers in the Kevin Hayes deal back in February.
Trouba is a restricted free agent this offseason.
Seeing as the Jets did not allow teams to negotiate a contract extension with trade suitors, that’s why the Rangers didn’t have to give much up.
Recently finishing his sixth NHL season, Trouba developed into a top-pairing defenseman with the Jets. He’s averaged 22:53 of ice time throughout his career and has never had a negative plus/minus rating.
He’s coming off one of his finest seasons as a pro, recording a career-high 50 points (eight goals, 42 assists). His previous career high was 33 two seasons ago.
It makes the trade look like even more of a steal as Trouba is now projected to be a top-two defenseman for the Blueshirts.
Suddenly, the Rangers’ blue line — which was a major area of concern at the start of this rebuild last year — is looking quite promising.
Trouba is now added to a crop of young defensemen that includes 25-year-old Brady Skjei, 21-year-old Adam Fox, and 19-year-old K’Andre Miller.
Fox was acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes in April while Miller was drafted by the Rangers with the 22nd pick last year.
There should not be much of an issue re-signing Trouba, either. He told Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun that a move to New York is also advantageous for his girlfriend, who is beginning her residency to become a doctor.
“It’s a great opportunity for myself and my fiancée,” Trouba said. “Her career is as important as my career. Our goal from a couple of years back was we wanted to make this work.”
It’s not all good news for the Rangers, however.
Signing Trouba to an extension this offseason is going to cost Gorton a pretty penny as he is expected to call for a contract that pays around $7.5 million annually. As it stands, that will hamper the Rangers’ chances of going all-in on free-agent star winger Artemi Panarin — who has been linked most often with the Rangers and Florida Panthers.
Panarin could get a contract that pays him as much as $11 million-$12 million per year, which would eat up a large portion of the Rangers’ approximate $16 million in cap space, per CapFriendly.com. That number obviously becomes smaller when adding a new Trouba deal.
Look for Gorton to shed some contracts, including that of veteran winger Chris Kreider; one of the last familiar faces from the Rangers sustained period of success earlier in the decade.
