New York Rangers: Is Jacob Trouba worth keeping?
By Steve Paulus
Should they keep him?
Asking if the Rangers should keep him begs the question, would anybody want him? At his price tag, is there a team willing to take on that kind of cap hit for what he brings to the table? In these uncertain times, the chances of the Rangers even being able to deal him would range from slim to none.
However, if a rival general manager called Jeff Gorton and proposed a trade with some salary retention, the Rangers’ GM would have to listen.
The one reason that the team may look for a suitor is that after this season, a No Movement Clause kicks into his contract and he cannot be traded or sent to the minors for the next four years. In the last two years of his deal he has a Modified No Trade Clause in which he submits a no-trade list to the team.
Trouba could be seen as expendable in that the team could see Adam Fox as their top right defenseman for many years to come. Tony DeAngelo slots into the second pair and prospect Nils Lundkvist projects to be their third righty defenseman in a year of two. The team could move one of their right defensemen (DeAngelo) to the other side, but there’s no denying a surplus of a good thing.
As it is, the likelihood is that Trouba isn’t going anywhere and the Rangers have to commit to the fact that he will be the anchor of their D-corps for the next six seasons. He may not score 20 goals and 80 points, but playing shutdown defense against the opposition’s top lines is no small challenge. Of course, the team needs to find a partner who will complement Trouba’s style of play. That was something they had a lot of trouble with this season.
Trouba’s first season in New York is too small a sample size to base an assessment of his future. He played well enough to show that he can become the defensive foundation the team wants him to be. Considering their commitment of time and money they made to him, he had better be.