Looking back at the Trouba-Pionk trade

The news broke this week that the Winnipeg Jets had avoided arbitration by signing Neal Pionk to a four-year, $23.5 million contract.   With an Annual Average Value (AAV) of $5.875 million the deal can be expected to raise the ire of New York Rangers fans, compared to Jacob Trouba‘s $8 million AAV.

The arguments are easy to make.  The Rangers traded Pionk and a first round draft pick for Trouba, a player who had made it clear he wanted out of Winnipeg. They then gave him one of the richest deals for any NHL defenseman, signing him for seven years and $56 million.

In two seasons, while both players have scored nine goals, Pionk has 68 assists to Trouba’s 33.  They are averaging the same amount of ice time per game, just under 22 minutes, though Pionk is seeing 2:05 per game on the power play compared to 1:34 for Trouba.

While almost $6 million a year for Pionk seems high, it’s still over $2 million less than what Trouba is making.

On paper, it looks like the Rangers got the worse of the deal just comparing Pionk to Trouba and it gets’ worse when you consider that the first round pick could develop into a bona fide NHL player.

Looking back

Second guessing is easy when you have the benefit of hindsight. On June 17, 2019, when Jeff Gorton made the deal to acquire Trouba, take a look at the Rangers’ defense corps and the number of games they played in 2018-19:

1. Marc Staal – 79 games
2. Brady Skjei – 78 games
3. Neal Pionk – 73 games
4. Kevin Shattenkirk – 73 games
5. Brendan Smith – 63 games
6. Tony DeAngelo – 61 games
7. Frederik Claesson – 37 games
8. Adam McQuaid – 36 games

It wasn’t a great situation. Staal was showing his age while Shattenkirk was headed for a buyout.  Brendan Smith was a bottom pair blueliner and DeAngelo had had his first relatively successful season (4 goals, 26 assists).  Pionk had been a revelation offensively, but his plus/minus rating of -16 was worst of any defenseman on the team.

What about the prospects?  Adam Fox had just been acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes and was regarded as an undersized player with decent potential.  Ryan Lindgren had played five games, but seemed destined for another season in Hartford.  K’Andre Miller had just finished his first year at the University of Wisconsin.

At the time, the prospect everyone was excited about was Libor Hajek who had acquitted himself well in five games before a season ending injury.

Financially, the NHL was going strong with the anticipation that the salary cap would rise from $81.5 million to almost $90 million within two or three years.  No one had ever heard the term “COVID-19″ and a pandemic was something feature in sci-fi movies.

So, in one deal, the Rangers had acquired a right-shot top pair defenseman who was coming off a 50 point season.  At 6’3”, 209 pounds Trouba immediately became one of the biggest players on the team and a physical presence.  He was expected to boost the fortunes of his buddy, Brady Skjei, who was going to revive his career with a new defense partner.

The entire hockey world saw this trade a big win for Jeff Gorton and the Rangers.

Is there any wonder that the arrival of Jacob Trouba was welcomed by Ranger fans and that he was able to secure that contract?

The verdict so far

Who knew that in just two years the Rangers would have a surplus of righty blueliners and that Trouba would be supplanted by Adam Fox on the first power play unit?   Who knew that Trouba and Chris Kreider would be the beneficiaries of two of the last big pre-pandemic contracts?

No one knew and for the Blueshirts faithful to continue to bemoan those deals is to ignore the facts that fate has dealt every NHL team.

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Let’s make one thing clear.  Jacob Trouba has not been a disaster for the Rangers.  He has unexpectedly had to take on the role of being the shutdown defenseman, leaving the offense to others.  He has take on a leadership role and is very possibly the next captain of the team. He was the mentor for K’Andre Miller and helped the rookie to a fabulous freshman season.  He is the biggest physical presence on the blueline and his absence was sorely felt when he wasn’t in the lineup against the Islanders and Capitals.

Is he overpaid?  In a post-pandemic world, the answer has to be yes.  That full No Movement Clause in the contract means he is wedded to the team for the next six years.  For those reasons Trouba is routinely villified on social media and in the comments section here at Blue Line Station.

Does he deserve it?  Not if you go back in time to the day that the Rangers got him.   Just like winning the Alexis Lafrenière sweepstakes made the Kreider contract a miscalculation, the unexpected development of Adam Fox into a Norris Trophy winner along with the progress of Nils Lundkvist and the opportunity to draft Braden Schneider makes Trouba’s deal seem excessive.

Oh, one more thing.  There is no way that anyone would be happy with a defense featuring Adam Fox, Neal Pionk and Nils Lundkvist on the right side.   The Rangers would have had to go out and get a physical, shutdown blueliner and that’s exactly what they got in Trouba.

So Ranger fans, suck it up and be happy we have too many good defensemen. It’s a good problem to have and there are a lot of hockey teams that would love to have the same issue .