New York Rangers: Is Jacob Trouba worth keeping?

Is he overpaid?

This is where the controversy lies.  $8 million a year is a huge commitment to any player and it puts Trouba in a stratosphere of NHL defensemen.  Only six other NHL defensemen make as much as Trouba and that begs the question, he is one of the top seven defensemen in the league?

What is fascinating is that this was a pretty awful year for the highest paid defensemen.  Except for John Carlson of the Washington Capital, they all had off-years.  Erik Karlsson, P.K. Subban, Drew Doughty, Brent Burns and Oliver Ekman-Larsson were all off their career bests.

It really was a season for young defensemen to flourish including Dougie Hamilton, Zach Werenski, Ivan Provorov, Quinn Hughes, Cale Makar and the Rangers’ own Adam Fox and Tony DeAngelo.

To add insult to injury, Neal Pionk had six goals and 45 points and a plus 10 rating and is making $3 million a year playing on the top pair for the Jets.  To be fair, Pionk plays a completely different game from Trouba so they shouldn’t be compared strictly on offense.

Based on his results and the numbers for his peers this season, if Trouba had to sign this summer, there is no way he would command the big payday that he received.   What makes it a little more palatable is the fact that of the 15 highest paid defensemen in the NHL, only Aaron Ekblad is younger than Trouba.

The conclusion is that he is overpaid, but with a locked in seven year contract, his $8 million hit may be seen as somewhat of a bargain in the future as salaries rise.