The 30-year-old native of Rochester, Michigan, was sent to Orange County for defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and the Rangers’ fourth-round pick in 2025.
Anaheim will also pay the entirety of Trouba’s remaining salary through the end of next season.
The Rangers scratched Trouba early on Friday afternoon, in advance of their meeting against Pittsburgh that evening. There were reports that Trouba had requested a trade, but had approximately 15 teams on his list, under the modified no-trade clause in his contract. Entering the NHL in 2013 as a 19-year-old with the Winnipeg Jets, Trouba played six seasons before signing a seven-year, $56 million contract with the Rangers, with every dollar guaranteed, and $22 million being a signing bonus. His cap hit as been a steady $8 million a season, but no more.
Now we know where the Rangers likely found the extra cash to sign goaltender Igor Shesterkin to an eight-year, $92 million contract extension on Friday night.
Trouba developed a reputation of a rough player, and was labeled dirty at times. He has been suspended twice, and fined a total of five times for nearly $131,000. Both of his suspensions warranted two games, two with the Jets, and two with the Rangers, with the latest coming back on January 27 of this year. Trouba was fined the league maximum of $5,000 for elbowing Florida’s Evan Rodriguez in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last year, but avoided suspension.
In 23 games for New York this season, Trouba is goalless, with six assists, 22 penalty minutes, and a -4. The Rangers did not pay him for lighting up the score sheet, as Trouba only tallied 22 points last season in 69 games, with just three goals. His best year in New York came during the 2021-22 campaign, posting 39 points, and a career-best 11 goals and +25. Trouba also racked up a career-high 204 PIM, nearly matched by his 199 a year later.
A lot of hockey pundits will also remember Trouba’s blooper of lining up for a hit against the New Jersey Devils two years ago, and completely whiffing with enough force to plaster face-first into the boards. It turned out to be a play that made several year-end blooper reels, including one-time Sportsnet NHL mainstay Steve Dangle’s “Dang Its.”
After the Rangers traded Ryan McDonaugh to Tampa Bay in 2018, the team went without a captain for the next four years. Instead, New York ran a rotation of alternate captains every month. This would be largely uncharted territory to name a new captain mid-season, as is usually the case when one is traded mid-season. However, the rarity in New York was just how early in the season the move was made. Typically a captain is traded at or near the trade deadline, or in a veteran captain’s case, released outright so he could sign with a team in the middle of a playoff race. We saw this last year where Buffalo traded Kyle Okposo to the Panthers, who went on to win the Stanley Cup, and retired shortly thereafter.
After reaching the quarter pole of the 2024-25 season, Trouba is still owed around $6 million, which the Ducks will again be paying in full, in addition to the full $8 million next year. Anaheim still have $13 million in salary cap room this year after the trade, which surprises no one for a last-place squad. The Ducks sit in the basement of the Pacific Division with 23 points, and third-worst in the Western Conference total. Only Montreal, Nashville, and Chicago have worse records.
The Blackhawks fired head coach Luke Richardson on Thursday, and Nashville has lost seven straight. New York sits fourth in the Atlantic Division with 29 points, six behind Carolina for a guaranteed playoff spot, yet holds the top Wild Card spot by a single point. However, this is New York, and anything short of division championships or deep playoff runs are grounds for blowing up the system and starting fresh.
Speculation has already begun as to whether the Rangers will name a captain for next season. The choices are abundant with Adam Fox, Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, and 2020 first-overall pick Alexis Lafreniere. However with the Rangers, we know this to be a team that although steeped in tradition, plays by their own rules and often goes against the grain just for the sake of being difficult.
-JC24