Getty Jacob Trouba of the New York Rangers.
The New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings appeared to be on the verge of completing a trade at the end of June 2024. It would have involved Rangers captain Jacob Trouba, according to reports, but no deal materialized.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman provided an ominous update on the possibility of a transaction following the end of the draft.
“I’m going to admit this: I’m not sure what is going on here,” Friedman said on his “32 Thoughts” podcast on June 29. “I have people saying to me it was very real. The Rangers were trying to push it along and they thought if they could work out something with Detroit Trouba would be willing to go there.
“Then I had some people tell me on Saturday that it’s not close, ‘You guys are getting way ahead of yourselves and this is far, far more of a challenge than you think it’s going to be.'”
According to longtime hockey writer Larry Brooks on June 29, “a well-placed source” speaking to the New York Post said Rangers general manager Chris Drury was “working on a deal to send the captain to the Red Wings.”
The initial report about the Trouba trade did not include any details about the trade or the players and assets exchanged.
Rangers’ Jacob Trouba Could Block Trades to 15 Teams
Friedman compared the ongoing trade talk involving Trouba to the one the blueliner experienced when the Winnipeg Jets traded him to New York back in June 2019.
“The one thing I am reasonably certain of is that this whole situation that’s developed over the last week or two has been hard on Trouba. If you go back to when he left Winnipeg, both the Jets and the player were ready for a divorce. It was time for both to move on, and they did,” Friedman said.
“In this particular case, the Rangers may have decided, for cap reasons, that they have to do this, but that doesn’t mean that Trouba is ready for this.”
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.
On June 29, Brooks reported the Rangers “may retain $2.5 million per year.” Consequently, the Rangers would eat 31.25% of Trouba’s $12 million remaining salary.
Trouba’s no-trade list, which kicks in once the free-agent market opens, could be the key to this move.
On July 1, Trouba’s full no-move clause will turn into a much more manageable 15-team no-trade list. According to the Post, Trouba would approve a move to his home state of Michigan. That, however, might not be the case, according to Friedman’s report.
“What one other agent told me was, when Trouba submits his (no-trade) list, will he make it strategic?” Friedman reported. “Will he make it strategic so that places the Rangers might actually be able to trade him to would be blocked?
“There’s a lot here and one of the things Trouba has struggled with is the idea that the Rangers might want to move on from him.”
Trouba to Detroit, Patrick Kane Back to New York?
If the Rangers can move Trouba without having to buy his contract out–with a $2.5 million retention as the New York Post suggested–they will have $21.1 million in cap space.
Brooks believes there is a chance New York enters the Patrick Kane sweepstakes with the former Ranger entering free agency on July 1.
“As the expected Jacob Trouba trade to Detroit remains on hold, it would be kind of ironic if sending [Trouba] to the Red Wings would have an influence on Patrick Kane,” Brooks wrote on June 29. “The Post has learned that Kane was still in talks Saturday with Detroit GM Steve Yzerman regarding an extension.”
Kane scored 47 points (20 goals, 27 assists) in 50 games with the Red Wings in the 2023-24 season. He joined Detroit in November on a one-year deal following hip surgery.
Brooks thinks Detroit “can probably offer a longer-term deal than the Blueshirts might be comfortable awarding the winger, who will turn 36 in mid-November.”
Whatever ends up happening, Brooks thinks the final decision will arrive sooner rather than later.