Ducks Acquire Trouba From The Rangers; Another Trade Coming?

Photo: AP

By Michael Walters

Today the Anaheim Ducks acquired Jacob Trouba from the New York Rangers for Urho Vaakanainen and a conditional 4th round pick in 2025. The Rangers will receive the lower of the two 4th round picks the Ducks have in the next draft.

Trouba’s cap hit is at $8 million and his contract is good through the 2025-26 season. Vaakanainen’s cap hit is $1.1 million and he is an RFA at the end of the season. New York did not retain any salary in this deal. Anaheim is now currently just over $73 million leaving about almost $14 in cap space still per Puck Pedia.

There were several discussions that Trouba would be traded or waived early this morning and ultimately, Trouba was traded to Anaheim.

Anaheim Ducks General Manager Pat Verbeek had this to say about Trouba:

“Jacob is a highly respected player in this league whose character and leadership qualities on and off the ice are second to none. We believe Jacob has many more years in this league and hope he is a big part of our future success. It’s rare you are able to acquire a player with Jacob’s experience, stature, and ability. On the ice, he competes every shift, leads by example and is a presence on the blue line every night.”

Analysis:

At first glance this appears like a head scratcher of a trade for Anaheim. Trouba has been a leader as the captain of the New York Rangers being a physical presence, who likes to hit and plays a similar style of game to Gudas. However, he can also make unnecessary checks and turnover the puck. He is willing to jump up in the offensive zone, but his mobility can be suspect at times.

The Ducks traded Vaakanainen who has had injury problems in the past couple of seasons and a draft pick, but the interesting part is New York didn’t retain any salary. Trouba has had a rough season as he mainly played on the 3rd defensive pairing. The fact that New York didn’t have to retain any salary for the remainder of his contract is a win for them. New York cleared cap space and then used it to sign goalie Igor Shesterkin to a massive 8 year deal with an $11-12 mil AAV according to Kevin Weekes.

Anaheim picked up an experienced defensemen in exchange for a younger injury prone one, but the blue line is still full for Anaheim with eight players. The Ducks could send Drew Helleson down to San Diego without risk as he is still waiver exempt. And there is still questions about the future of Cam Fowler. Maybe the Ducks can move him now without having to retain much or any of his salary. And of course John Gibson‘s name will come up again especially as the trade deadline approaches.

One thing that is certain, Trouba is going to have to pick a new number. The number 8 was retired in Anaheim by none other than Ducks legend Teemu Selanne.

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December 6th, 2024