Rangers make another big move with Jacob Trouba deal

This offseason just keeps on getting better for the New York Rangers after they signed restricted free agent Jacob Trouba to a new deal today.

Although the terms of the deal haven’t been officially disclosed as of yet, reports suggest that the New York Rangers have locked Jacob Trouba down to a seven-year, $56,000,000 million contract.

It is a max-term deal that carries an average annual value of $8,000,000 and ensures that Trouba will be a long-term staple on the Rangers blueline. We all knew this day was coming after the Blueshirts traded for the stud defenseman from the Winnipeg Jets on June 17, 2019, but it is a significant moment nonetheless for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, Trouba was scheduled for an arbitration hearing on July, 25 and, although 90 percent of arbitration cases get resolved prior to the hearing date, it was still important for the Rangers to get this particular piece of business wrapped up as soon as possible.

It keeps the feel-good factor going following a blockbuster offseason that has netted the Rangers a generational talent in Kaapo Kakko, a potential elite blueliner in Adam Fox and one of the best playmakers in the NHL in Artemi Panarin.

By getting Trouba locked up long-term it now gives the front-office tandem of General Manager Jeff Gorton and President John Davidson more time to work out a new deal for Pavel Buchnevich, who is set for his own arbitration hearing on July, 29.

It also gives Gorton and Davidson a few more days to finalize their plan of attack for their other restricted free agents in Brendan Lemieux and Tony DeAngelo.

Then there is also the small matter of navigating the secondary buyout window where the Rangers could look to buy out any of Kevin Shattenkirk, Marc Staal or Brendan Smith in order to provide much-needed salary cap relief.

With Chris Kreider also in need of a long-term deal too, there could well be some more moves made with the Blueshirts now over the cap ceiling of $81.5 million – they currently stand at $82,406,466. All of that will become clearer in the coming days and weeks but it is important to focus on the news of the day and assess what is another momentous move by NYR.

In terms of the logistics of the deal, Trouba got the payday he was looking for and now has the fifth-highest cap hit for a defenseman along with Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks and the Washington Capitals’ John Carlson.

However, the Rangers have been smart by giving Trouba seven years because, given his age and high upside, they can be confident of getting elite production for the majority if not all of the length of the deal. It is also important to note that the NHL should be in line to get a bigger payday when their current TV Rights deal with NBC expires, which should, as a result, see the cap jump up and give teams like the Rangers more breathing room.

A player of Trouba’s caliber was always going to get paid and, while that could mean players like Ryan Strome or Vlad Namestnikov may have to be moved in order to get the Blueshirts back under the cap, it gives the blueline a rather significant makeover. The numbers speak for themselves and the main reason the Rangers would have made this sizeable commitment is because they know they are getting a puck-moving defenseman who is reaching the prime of his career.

Trouba was at the peak of his powers in 2018-19 and he enjoyed a career year, setting career-highs in assists (42), points (50), power play goals (3), power play points (18), shots (162), and takeaways (48).

Last year was the first time in his career that the right-shot had reached the 50-point plateau in his NHL career, while 15 of his 42 assists came on the power play which means that the Rangers now have another potent weapon to play with when on the man advantage.

In-fact, with Adam Fox on the roster too, the Blueshirts now have two high-end playmakers that can quarterback the power play, which should bolster a special teams unit that ranked 17th in the NHL last year with a substandard percentage of 19.4. Trouba’s 50 points ranked 13th among defensemen in 2018-19 and his career-high 42 points were nine among blueliners, tied with NHL heavyweights Erik Karlsson and Victor Hedman.

The 6’3″, 202 lb blueliner is also a huge upgrade defensively for New York and he’s an absolute horse as perfectly illustrated by the fact he led the Jets in total ice time last year (1,876:00). He also averaged 22:53 minutes of ice time per game in 2018-19. Trouba, who perhaps interestingly tied for points with Patrik Laine last year (50), came on strong down the stretch for Winnipeg in 2018-19 with five goals and 30 assists for 35 points over the final 44 games of the regular season, while he posted one assist in six postseason contests.

In total, the ninth overall pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft has tallied 42 goals and 137 assists for 179 points in 408 regular-season games, in addition to six points (two goals, four assists) in 27 career playoff games.

Another important factor to consider when assessing this deal is that Trouba, who finished sixth in voting for the Calder Trophy in 2013-14, has averaged at least 22:00 minutes of ice time in five of his six NHL seasons, while he has also posted a plus/minus rating of even or higher in every season of his NHL career.

All in all, the Rangers have taken another gigantic step in this rebuild by locking down a high-end defenseman who is playing at his very peak right now. And the good news is that, at just 25-years-old, Trouba is just about to enter his prime and will only continue to flourish.

He was looking for a long-term home and he’s now found one at Madison Square Garden, which should play host to some sublime hockey throughout 2019-20. With Kaapo Kakko, Artemi Panarin and now Jacob Trouba on the roster for the foreseeable, this New York Rangers team has undergone a radical transformation in just a matter of months and should be a lot more competitive and a hell of a lot more fun to watch next year.

While they still have plenty of work to do when it comes to re-signing depth players, working out what to do with Chris Kreider and trying to maneuver back under the salary cap, this has been a summer full of home runs for the Rangers and today’s announcement represented another dinger straight out of the ballpark.