Has Trouba Topped Out
When the Rangers acquired Jacob Trouba over the summer, the thought was that he would become the top pair defenseman the Rangers had been searching for since trading Ryan McDonagh. He brought a bit of offense, an edge to defense and could play against the top lines of the other teams.
At 25 years old, that’s a pretty big package of skills / expectations, particularly in New York where defensemen have a long history of being targets of the fan’s ire when things don’t go well. It’s nothing new by any stretch, even Bob Nevin who played during the 60s, faced the same sort of singling out as the likes of Tom Poti, Kevin Hatcher and Michal Rozsival have in more recent times.