Rangers captain Jacob Trouba has been traded to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for soon to be 26 year-old left handed defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a conditional 2025 4th round pick. No salary was retained by New York, meaning the remaining balance of his $8M contract for this year and next has been completely removed from the Cap figure.

They do add $1.1M for Vaakanainen, who becomes an RFA this Summer and is currently on Injury Reserve for an upper body injury. The net result is a $6.9M bump in camp space for Chris Drury to work with this season, for a total of $8.6M as the roster currently stands.

The trade makes Trouba the third straight Blueshirt captain to have been traded mid-season, with his predecessors Ryan McDonagh (2018) and Ryan Callahan (2014) both moved in previous transactions, both to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

It brings an end to a drama that has played out since late June, in which Chris Drury appeared to try to trade Trouba, only to be outmaneuvered by his captain, who used the July 1st deadline and his 15 team no-trade list to help thwart a potential move to Detroit. The heat ratcheted up following a leaked league-wide memo that saw Drury offer up both Chris Kreider and Trouba as available to all 31 opposing GMs.

Even before that moment, it appeared Trouba was not fully invested in this season, acknowledging during training camp that this was the likely last hurrah for the current core. As it turned out, he was correct, and Trouba leaves the Rangers as they try to rebound from an 8-10-0 stretch that has put their post-season desires firmly at risk.

How does this impact the defense

As it stands right now, Laviolette will have to lean more heavily on Braden Schneider and the recently recalled Vincent Mancini to take over Trouba’s minutes, particularly facing the opposition’s top players and on the penalty kill. Schneider has shifted back and forth between the 2nd and 3rd pair, and even played some on the left side as Ryan Lindgren worked his way back from injury to start the year.

Vaakanainen may provide a further option on the left when he returns from injury, though he has only appeared in 141 games over 7 seasons, with a career high of 68 last season with the Ducks, and just 5 this season. The former first round pick (2017 – 18th overall) of the Boston Bruins, has struggled to secure his spot in the NHL, and could ultimately find himself as perhaps a better option to Chad Ruhwedel as a 7th defenseman.

The soon to be 26 year old does bring a bit more size at 6-2 and 200lbs, but not much in the way of offense, though is seen as more of a shutdown type. His contract expires at the end of the season, but has one more year of team control before he becomes a UFA, so may offer either some depth or a trade option should Drury decide to go that route.

More importantly, it gives Drury a lot more flexibility to work out further trades if he so wishes, both to bolster the defense, as well as to make some changes at forward if he so wishes.

Moving Trouba out, began the process of dealing with the challenges facing the Blueshirts, both on and off the ice. The 30 year old right handed defenseman had struggled to fill a role with the Rangers, with his skating and decision making, not fitting into the type of higher tempo play that coach Peter Laviolette is looking for. Even before the current coaching staff, Trouba was a misfit in the Rangers line-up, though he did have times where he could affect the outcome of a game with a hit or well-timed goal – the 2022 first round playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins featuring both of those talents.

Filling his 16:49 of even strength ice time, along with his team leading 3:03 of penalty kill will be the first task for Laviolette, with Schneider (15:41 and 0:56 respectively) looking to fill the majority of it. We could also see Adam Fox doing more on the PK as a result.

Are More Trades Brewing?

It’s hard to believe that Drury will be satisfied with leaving the Rangers as they are now, but it remains to be seen as to whether he can make any more moves in the short term. The problems afflicting New York seemingly span far further than just the play and presence of their captain. The overall commitment to defense has been a challenge all year, including during their hot start. The forwards in particular seem uncommitted in many instances to playing smart hockey, and have been as much, if not more to blame than the blueliners.

In addition, the Rangers also lack an emotional leader, and while Trouba served that role in the past, it’s clear that neither he nor others have stepped up. Artemi Panarin appeared to highlight the situation a couple of weeks ago, but is not well placed to lead the team as someone who still isn’t completely fluent with English. Of the rest, maybe Vincent Trocheck could ultimately step up, but his play this year has not been inspiring and he has not been one who has typically addressed the media, suggesting he too is not necessarily suited for the role.

Adam Fox, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider and K’Andre Miller are all relatively soft spoken, and don’t seem fit to lead the team, which leaves few other options.

Rumors of the Rangers pursuing Brady Tkachuk – whom the Senators consistently deny is even an option – have cropped up in the last few days, and perhaps would go to answer some of those issues should there be more than just media speculation.

Anyone knew being brought into the team would have a period of adjustment anyway, and trying to do that mid-season might be a task to great for anyone the Rangers might choose to acquire anyway.

As it stands, there’s still plenty of mess to clean up, and Chris Drury no doubt has more on his to-do list over the coming weeks.