Speculation season is now in full swing and the New York Rangers appear to be at the heart of a lot of it as we hurtle towards the 2019 NHL Entry Draft on Friday.
While the St. Louis Blues are off celebrating their playoff heroics with the Stanley Cup, the New York Rangers and the rest of the NHL are preparing for a significant week.
The Blueshirts will of course have the chance to select a franchise-altering talent with the number two overall pick, which should be Kaapo Kakko barring any late surprises by the New Jersey Devils.
Then of course we will have free agency where a host of elite stars, including players of the ilk of Artemi Panarin and Matt Duchene, will be available.
But the madness has already started with the internet being treated to a flurry of trade and buyout rumors on Saturday, and one actual trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins dealing defenseman Olli Maatta to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Dominik Kahun and a fifth-round pick in this year’s draft.
Although they have yet to make any actual moves, the Rangers were involved in a lot of trade talk throughout the day yesterday.
Firstly, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported that the Blueshirts have held talks with the Buffalo Sabres about shopping Jimmy Vesey, which we have done a deep dive on.
Then, the New York Post’s Larry Brooks published a story that the Rangers, along with the New York Islanders and the New Jersey Devils, are among the teams aggressively pursuing a trade for Winnipeg Jets blueliner Jacob Trouba.
Reports elsewhere have suggested that the Detroit Red Wings could also be in the mix, along with a host of other teams.
Now, we’ve known for a while that the Rangers front office have been a keen admirer of Trouba with these rumors hanging around for quite some time.
It is easy to see why when you consider that Trouba is an elite defenseman in the making and he’s one of the hottest and most in-demand names available on the trade market this offseason.
He’s shown throughout his still early NHL career that he has all the tools and attributes required to blossom into a high-end blueliner, and he truly flourished in 2018-19 for the Jets.
The 25-year-old tallied eight goals and set career-highs in assists (42), points (50), power play goals (3), power play points (18), shots (162) and takeaways (48).
Trouba’s 50 points ranked 13th among defensemen in 2018-19 and his 42 assists were ninth among blueliners, which gives you some indication as to the elite level the right-shot has reached.
He’s at the peak of his powers right now and that will of course drive the asking price up when it comes to both a trade and his long-term contract.
Trouba is an extremely mobile puck-moving right hand shooting defenseman who can help the transition out of the zone and provide a much-needed offensive punch.
He can also provide a physical edge and, at 6’3″ and 202 lb, he can hit like a train, finish his checks and leave a mark on both the game and on his opponents.
Perhaps most importantly, however, is Trouba’s ability as a true power play quarterback which is something the Rangers are in dire need of given that the Kevin Shattenkirk experiment has been a complete flop so far.
15 of Trouba’s 42 assists came on the man advantage and he would be able to split power play duties with Adam Fox, giving the Blueshirts two much-needed potent weapons on the man advantage.
Trouba has 42 goals and 137 assists for 179 points in 408 regular season games for the Jets, and he would fill a hell of a lot of needs for the Rangers should they be able to pull a trade off.
It won’t be easy though. Trouba is an impending free agent and would demand a significant bump in pay following his exploits this year, with a max contract and anything between $7-8.5 million seeming the likely terms involved.
That could almost be the easy part, however. Reports have indicated that Winnipeg haven’t given teams permission to speak to Trouba’s agent, Kurt Overhardt, about the finer details of a long-term contract.
The Jets have made it known what they would expect back in a potential trade for Trouba, and the price for any team willing to press the go button would be extremely steep.
Winnipeg, who has a number of unrestricted and restricted free agents on the book including phenom Patrik Laine, needs to create some cap space in order to tie down their glut of stars and it is believed they are looking for a first round pick in addition to some stud prospects.
The Post has reported that Pavel Buchnevich and maybe even Lias Andersson, along with a first round selection, could form part of what would be a monster package to try and persuade the Jets to send Trouba to the Big Apple.
Would that be too steep a price to pay? Andersson hasn’t lived up to expectations yet but he’s still got time to live up to his sky-high potential and prove that he’s not another high draft pick failure.
Buchnevich, meanwhile, finally put it all together in 2018-19 and enjoyed a career year as he registered 21 goals and 17 assists for 38 points in 64 games.
Both would be big pieces to give up for one player and it would illustrate just how in love the Rangers front office are with Trouba should one of those players head in the opposite direction in any potential trade.
The other major caveat to consider here is the competition the Rangers will face when constructing a package that will hopefully have the Jets falling over themselves.
Again, according to Larry Brooks and the Post, both the New York Islanders and the New Jersey Devils are said to be very interested in a trade for Trouba.
And the big sticking point where those two franchises are concerned is that they both have a glut of draft picks and prospects to be able to give away and package up in what would be a hugely attractive trade.
The Islanders could include stud defenseman Noah Dobson as the jewel in the crown of any potential deal. Dobson was selected with the 12th overall pick in last year’s draft and was named the MVP of the QMJHL playoffs.
Then you have the Devils who are swimming in prospects, draft picks and cap space. They still need to persuade Taylor Hall that they are serious about building a Stanley Cup contender so they could be forced into throwing a flurry of picks and prospects such as Jesper Bratt, Jesper Boqvist and maybe even Miles Wood at the Jets in order to force through a trade.
It is all set up to be a truly intriguing week and it could be a huge one for the Rangers, who would have five right-handed shooting offensive defensemen on the roster should they be successful in winning over the Winnipeg Jets.
With Adam Fox, Tony DeAngelo, Neal Pionk, Kevin Shattenkirk and Trouba all righties, something would have to give. It would give the team some trade options or they would have to consider buying out Kevin Shattenkirk and maybe even Brendan Smith.
All in all, if the New York Rangers really are serious about making Jacob Trouba a cornerstone piece of both their blueline and their rebuild, then they are going to have to get comfortable with the fact that they are going to have to give up a lot in order to obtain a stud blueliner they’ve had their eye on for a while.
Just how steep a price they will have to pay remains to be seen and a lot of that could come out in the wash this week as teams begin to get aggressive prior to the draft.