In the words of New York Rangers General Manager Chris Drury: “Nothing is off the table”. After 24 hours of Free Agency, it appears there’s very little actually on it either. The Blueshirts came up short in the Eastern Conference for the second time in three years, and faced plenty of questions about whether this team is capable of going all the way.
The relatively expensive – 2nd (2027) and 5th (2025) round picks – addition of 33 year old Reilly Smith, and the slightly lengthy term offered to fourth line centerman Sam Carrick – 3 years @ $1M – rather than the pursuit of any of the big names out there likely was in part due to the inability to clear further cap space.
After dumping Barclay Goodrow’s $3.6M for three more years to the San Jose Sharks via waivers last week, it looked as if Drury would be able to pull off some further magic by unloading Jacob Trouba’s final two years @ $8M per and freeing up some serious cash to restructure the team. Rumors surfaced in the early hours of Saturday that the Rangers and Red Wings were working on a deal that would see the team captain heading to Detroit with around $2.5M of his salary returned.
The trade was of course contingent on Trouba agreeing to either waive his NMC prior to July 1st, or at worst leaving Detroit off of the list of 15 teams he would not accept a trade to. While many of awaited for news of the consummated transaction, questions surrounding the veracity of the rumors began to surface.
After nothing materialized during Saturday’s second day of the draft, Elliotte Friedman and Larry Brooks have both since walked back their original speculations, and suggestions from some that there really wasn’t much momentum at all, and that it was largely a product of the Rangers front office.
It’s unclear at this stage what the reality is, though there are some suggestions that Jacob Trouba himself is upset. Just three weeks after bowing out after a lengthy playoff run, the Rangers captain was said to have been caught off guard by the suggestion he could be traded – Drury reportedly asked for his 15 team no-trade list prior to the July 1st due date.
Brooks also notes that Trouba is in a difficult position with his family, facing the prospect of impacting his wife’s final year of her medical residency – which was part of the reasoning for coming to New York in the first place – as well as their first child who arrived just six months ago. There’s some suggestion that Trouba might simply refuse to report to any team who acquired him, significantly dampening the prospect of a trade.
It comes with the territory
While we often gloss over the personal lives of professional athletes, there’s also an argument that “it comes with the territory”. We can be both empathetic to Trouba’s plight with his wife’s residency extending an additional unforeseen year, while also recognizing that his contract at this stage is largely a gross overpayment on a team that is looking to make the final push to break a 30 year Cup drought.
It’s unclear whether the captain is also personally hurt by the perception that he can no longer be an effective contributor to the team – for the relative cost, but it’s certainly possible for a proud man who took it upon his shoulders to try and lead this team to the ultimate success.
Trust has been broken
How this will resolve itself remains unclear at this stage. Per a source in Vince Mercogliano’s latest report this will require a “major cleanup” in order to move forward, which presumably includes Trouba remaining with the team.
While on a different scale, we did see Vitali Kravtsov and the Rangers repair the relationship enough to get the young Russian back on the ice and in a New York uniform despite a series of contentious events between the two parties. Trouba as a veteran and captain of the team is of course in a better position to advocate for himself, and has indeed been a strong self advocate throughout his career, including a potentially tense exit from the Winnipeg Jets that lead to his move to New York.
Drury developing a reputation
The Rangers rookie GM is starting to form a reputation for contentious or problematic dealings with his players, not necessarily morally bereft, but certainly suggestions that he is sometimes found wanting on the people-management side.
The earliest public example of course would be the public divorce and then ultimate reconciliation with Russian prospect Vitali Kravtsov which appears to date back to October of 2019 when Drury was still an assistant GM.
In Arthur Staple’s story for the Athletic back in October 2021, Staple puts together a timeline for the broken relationship. From telling the young Russian that he’d “Quit on the team” after he elected to exercised his contractual right to return to his homeland rather than play in the AHL, to a dressing down for not working hard enough during the post-COVID shutdown playoff bubble.
As noted previously, they did manage to find a way to reconcile, and ultimately Kravtsov was dealt and returned to Russia having not been able to find his footing in the NHL with the Rangers or Canucks.
Then during his second year he reportedly got into a shouting match with his then coach Gerard Gallant following a Game 4 shutout on the way to a first round exit in the playoffs. Gallant would depart soon after having guided the Rangers to their best back-to-back seasons in club history.
Most recently there was the move to place Barclay Goodrow on waivers to get around his 15 team no-trade list, a move that was said to have upset the veteran who had three years remaining on a $3.6M contract and now will play for a team that is not expected to be a serious contender through the remainder of his term.
Managing the message
Which brings us back to Trouba. How Drury broached the subject with his captain very much is an unknown at this point, but it’s clearly caused some angst on the player’s part. What is clear though is that it is very much now a public debate, and one that looks a whole less wholesome than the one that saw Ryan McDonagh forced out of the Lightning to play for Nashville – only to return again this off-season.
There is some suggestion that Lighting GM Patrice Brisebois forced McDonagh’s hand somewhat, by noting – or threatening – the possibility of waivers and an uncontrolled destination. However that was handled behind closed doors, it appears that there was sufficient good-will that remained that allowed the veteran defender to return this Summer.
Brisebois is of course facing his own minor controversy this off-season with the departure of 34 year old face of the franchise Steven Stamkos, though the circumstances have more in common with someone like Jaromir Jagr leaving the Rangers than with Trouba.
How this ends
Who knows at this point. Trouba’s leverage lies solely in his M-NTC which gives him sole-discretion over 15 of the potential 31 teams out there, and the threat to refuse to report if he is traded. That threat would seemingly dampen interest for any team that might have otherwise been enticed.
For the Rangers, they could choose three paths. They could suspend him if he refuses a trade or fails to report to camp, or could otherwise try to make things miserable for him and try and force him to trade – think being scratched, sent down to Hartford or otherwise minimized in his participation with the team.
They could also elect to try and patch things over and bring him back into the fold, though the threat of a similar action next year or at the trade deadline would surely remain.
I’m not sure anyone knows at this point, though clearly it’s the interest of the Rangers to solve it sooner rather than later. Already they may have missed out on the opportunity to approach the free agency period differently than they did, and may have additionally missed the opportunity to improve their team enough to be in a better position to compete for the Cup this year.