Jacob Trouba Is A Massive Problem
Jacob Trouba and his stock as a hockey player is currently at an all-time low. He is a liability on the ice for the New York Rangers. This makes his contract a major problem they must face during the offseason. Whether you choose to use the eye test or advanced stats, the 30-year-old just doesn’t have what the Blueshirts need right now. In their Eastern Conference Final against the Panthers, the defenseman saw himself demoted down to the third pair and ripped to shreds seemingly every time he was on the ice. Following their elimination, many fans called for his removal from the roster as priority #1. Honestly, they are not entirely wrong. Check out JFresh’s post for quite how bad he is:
His lack of awareness and where the other team is on the ice is alarming. Simply put, if he did not have the C on his jersey he would absolutely be in the press box watching these games. If Peter Laviolette had some balls he should have benched Trouba to send a message to the locker room. He had a plus/minus of zero in sixteen playoff games played this year. However, he had an abysmal 38.5% Corsi For. Simply put, the Rangers outplayed the opposition for only 38.5 percent of the time while he was on the ice. Now it’s time to see what I mean. During their elimination in Game Six, check out this clueless play on the wall:
On top of the headless chicken play, he cost the Rangers so many penalties in this series. The former Jets defenseman picked up ten penalty minutes in the Florida series. He racked up 22 overall penalty minutes in the playoffs. New York was able to overcome the special teams disadvantage respectably through the first two rounds of the postseason. However, Florida made them pay more times than not when they met. Physicality in the playoffs is a welcome sight. However, when you play recklessly as he has you are not doing your team any favors.
Not Paying Off
As you saw on JFresh’s tweet, Trouba is owed $8 million per season until 2026. It’s a massive anchor that the Rangers need to find a way to get rid of. In case you’re not familiar, they are facing a major cap crunch either this year or next. Igor Shesterkin was a hero in net for them and should command at least $9 million annually on an extension. His bridge deal runs out next Summer. Elsewhere, Alexis Lafreniere was arguably their best forward during the playoff run and will also need a new deal done in 2025. Right now, they have a little over $11 million in cap space with eight pending free agents. This includes Kaapo Kakko who’s had a puzzling tenure in New York, to say the least.
Cutting ties with Trouba has more implications for next year when the aforementioned pair of Rangers are out of a contract. $8 million should at the very least cover what Lafreniere eventually asks for. With Igor (and K’Andre Miller) you will have to be more creative. A separate post could be made about whether guys like Mika Zibanejad or Chris Kreider need to be moved out. However, for now, Chris Drury has a long to-do list for the Summer. The pain of coming so close and falling short stings a lot. Even worse, it will not get any easier.
Jacob Trouba joined the Rangers at a very unusual rebuilding period. Making him captain over someone like Kreider is a confusing decision and you could say that at the moment it happened. For what little he provides, he is nowhere near an $8 million player and should be moved out as soon as possible.
