Comparing Jacob Trouba to other righthanded New York Rangers blueliners

On Monday night, June 17th, 2019, the New York Rangers traded for Jacob Trouba. We took a look at how he compares to three other Rangers’ defensemen who shoot righthanded.

It seems like the New York Rangers are perpetually trying to upgrade their defense. No matter how many pieces are added, something just doesn’t click.

Granted, the defense is still a work in progress. This year, there were older players on their way out (Marc Staal), younger players trying to hold their own (Brady Skjei, Tony DeAngelo, Neal Pionk), and some more perplexing ones in between (Kevin Shattenkirk, Brendan Smith).

While the team has their hands full with some great draft picks last summer and may not have wantedto get involved with trades, they definitely saw that a piece worth looking at was Jacob Trouba. Adding him to the roster immediately brought them closer to contender status.

On Monday night, the New York Rangers sent Neal Pionk and the 20th overall pick in Friday’s 2019 NHL Entry Draft to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for Trouba. Many fans are calling this trade highway robbery for New York, and it’s hard not to look at it that way; they exchanged two virtual unknowns for a known (and talented) player.  Not to mention that the first round pick they traded actually belonged to Winnipeg in the first place.

But, how can we evaluate Trouba, for those of us who haven’t been admiring him from afar? We decided to compare him to the 2018-2019 Rangers he shares his right-handedness with, including Kevin Shattenkirk, Tony DeAngelo, and the player he was traded for, Neal Pionk.

First, let’s walk through Trouba’s career. He was drafted by Winnipeg ninth overall in 2012 and began playing there in the 2013-2014 season.

In his first season, the defenseman notched 29 points (10 goals and 19 assists) in 65 games. The following year, he dropped to 22 points (seven goals and 15 assists) in the same number of games.

In his third season, his point total decreased to 21 points (six goals and 15 assists) in 81 games. During the 2016-2017 campaign, he drastically improved to 33 points (eight goals and 25 assists) in just 60 games.

In the 2017-2018 season he finished with three goals and 21 assists for 24 points in only 55 games as he missed two months with a high ankle sprain.  He rebounded this past season with a career year.  He played in all 82 games for the first time and scoring 50 points (eight goals and 42 assists).   His point total was 13th best among NHL defensemen and his 42 assists was 10th best.

This was his career high in points and assists, and he got the closest he has been to his career high in goals (10) scored in his rookie year. Trouba was third on his team in assists and fifth in points.

Coming off of his career year, how does Trouba compare to the Rangers’ righties? We’ll start with the player he was traded for, Neal Pionk.

(All further comparison stats courtesy of the comparison tool on Hockey Reference.)

Pionk has only been in the NHL for two seasons, one made up of 28 games and one of 73. He scored at about the same pace as a younger Trouba, with six goals and 20 assists for 26 points in 73 games this past season, similar to Trouba’s first five seasons.

However, because the sample size is so small, it’s hard to draw any definitive conclusions. Though Trouba and Pionk have had similar single seasons, that doesn’t mean that they’re similar players (though they could be!).

Next is Tony DeAngelo. Again, we’re dealing with a small sample size since he has only appeared in three NHL seasons, so definitive conclusions can’t quite be drawn.

DeAngelo’s most Trouba-like season was this past year’s campaign. The young defenseman recorded four goals and 26 assists for 30 points in 61 games, somewhat similar to Trouba’s rookie year.

It’s important to note that although Trouba is only a year older than Pionk and DeAngelo, he has already played 408 NHL games compared to Pionk with 101 and DeAngelo with 132.

The player with the biggest sample size here is Kevin Shattenkirk. He’s been in the NHL for nine seasons, just a few more than Trouba’s six.

It’s best to compare Shattenkirk’s time in St. Louis with Trouba.  Shattenkirk spent seven years with the Blues, playing 425 games, comparable to Trouba’s 408.  At first look, it appears that Shattenkirk  has the offensive advantage as he scored 59 goals and had 258 points, compared to Trouba with 42 goals and 179 points.

But on further examination, Trouba actually has better statistics at even strength.  Shattenkirk scored 27 goals and added 99 assists for 126 points at even strength compared to Trouba with 33 goals and 100 assists for 133 points in 17 fewer games.

They are also the only two members of this list with playoff experience; six post-season runs for Shattenkirk and three for Trouba.   As far as playoff numbers go, Shattekirk has 34 points in 60 games while Trouba has six points in  27 games.  Shattenkirk’s numbers were helped when he notched one third of his career playoffs points in one post-season, 2015-16.

All of our comparisons have been of offensive numbers. Trouba is also an excellent defensive blueliner  Perhaps the best example is that he has never been a minus player in his six years in the NHL, playing on a Winnipeg Jets team that was outscored and missed the playoffs in three of those seasons.

So, what can New York Rangers’ fans expect from Jacob Trouba based on the Rangers’ defensemen that share the same dominant hand? A matured Pionk or DeAngelo, with a bit less offensive edge (but more time left to hit his prime) than Shattenkirk, and still, so, so much more.