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The New York Rangers tried to find a trade partner to move defenseman and captain Jacob Trouba ahead of free agency but they failed to do so.
Reports emerged during the draft speaking about a trade being “in the works” between the Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings to send Trouba to his home state, but ultimately no trade was completed.
Emily Kaplan of ESPN revealed on July 9 that Trouba blocked that trade from happening by including Detroit in his 15-team, no-trade list, thus vetoing his move to the Red Wings.
“There was a deal in place with the Red Wings, I am told, and Jacob used the power he earned in his contract to block it, and that’s within his right,” Kaplan said while appearing on TSN’s Jain Onrait show. “So unless something changes now in the next three months, where something makes sense for both the Rangers and one of the 15 teams on Jacob Trouba’s roster, he’s going to come back to this team and we’re going to see what type of captain he is and also how strong the leadership is for the New York Rangers because this was a really awkward and uncomfortable situation behind the scenes.”
Trouba scored 3 goals and 19 assists for 22 points in 69 regular-season games in 2024. His performance in the playoffs, however, was subpar and the team has decided to move on from him.
PuckPedia projects New York to have $13.6 million in cap space entering July 1. By trading Trouba they would save $8 million each of the next two seasons assuming no salary is retained.
Jacob Trouba’s Reasons for Blocking the Trade
Trouba is the Rangers captain and one of the team’s leaders. The Winnipeg Jets drafted Trouba with the No. 9 pick in the 2012 draft and he played 408 games for the franchise. The Jets traded Trouba to New York in June 2019, and he signed a contract with the Rangers in July of that year, avoiding arbitration.
Trouba has played 340 games in New York scoring 31 goals and assisting 99. He is coming off some struggles during the Rangers’ postseason run in 2024.
According to “two people with knowledge of the situation” speaking to Vince Mercogliano of USA Today on July 1, Trouba is “not pleased with the way this has gone down” and he “does not want to move his family,” following the Rangers attempt to trade him.
“(Trouba’s) wife, Kelly, has a medical career in New York and their first child, Axel, arrived in January,” Mercogliano reported. “The belief is that [Rangers general manager Chris] Drury wants to rip the band-aid off, which may leave Trouba resigned to accept his fate. Regardless of how it turns out, the state of the locker room is a concern.”
Larry Brooks of the New York Post reported similar information in parallel to Mercogliano’s report.
“When Trouba signed in 2019, his no-movement clause was designed to expire in conjunction with his wife Kelly Tyson-Trouba’s completion of her three-year residency at a New York hospital,” Brooks reported. “But the residency was deferred for a year so that the program which she is required to complete will end instead on July 1, 2025. The Troubas also welcomed their first child.
“There is no guarantee that Trouba would accept a trade even to a club on his approved list if that means leaving his wife and nine-month-old (as of training camp) behind.”
Rangers Determined to Trade or Waive Jacob Trouba
Larry Brooks of the New York Post shared the initial report of the Rangers “working on a deal” on June 29. The reported said two days later, on July 1, that the Rangers had made a final decision on Trouba’s future by determining they would move him during the offseason.
“Monday (July 1) is the day that Jacob Trouba’s no-move clause transforms to a 15-team no-trade list,” Brooks wrote on July 1. “Now the Rangers have leverage via the limited no-trade clause and have decided they can’t afford an $8M cap hit for a defenseman who is projected to be on the third pair. If Trouba does not approve a trade to Detroit that is believed in place, he will ultimately be sent somewhere else, perhaps by waivers. The decision has been made.”
The Rangers could trade Trouba or waive his contract, which has two seasons left on it with a cap hit of $8 million each year.
If the Rangers decide to cut Trouba, they would create some cap room for this and next season. New York would add $4 million worth of space in 2024-25 and 2025-26. The franchise, however, would endure dead-cap penalties of $2 million the two seasons after that. The buyout would expand Trouba’s “contract” for double his remaining time (two years turned into four).
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