Part 20 in a series analyzing the Rangers.
The idea was for Jacob Trouba to be the Rangers’ top-pair, matchup right defenseman and on the point with the first power-play unit.
That’s why the Blueshirts were willing not only to send last year’s 20th overall pick and Neal Pionk to Winnipeg last June to get Trouba but, more to the point, also to sign the pending restricted free agent to a seven-year contract worth an average of $8 million per.
The Rangers had lusted after Trouba for years. They first inquired about his availability during training camp and the early stages of 2016-17 when Trouba was enmeshed in a negotiating stalemate with the Jets that was not settled until early November of that season. He was tough, he’d force opponents to keep their heads up, he could shoot, and he was productive in the offensive zone.
Except he had rarely been on the first pair through six seasons in Winnipeg. Dustin Byfuglien primarily had that assignment for the Jets, and there were times when Tyler Myers played the right side of the second pair, leaving Trouba to third-pair duty. The Jets were loaded on the right.
(Of course, they traded Trouba, Myers fled as a free agent, Byfuglien declined to play and, well, Pionk played a ton for them this season, but that’s the province of the fine media folks in Winnipeg.)
The Rangers did not think they were loaded on the right side. After buying out Dan Girardi, they spent much of two seasons trying to jam square peg Nick Holden into that round hole. They then tried Pionk, for lack of a better alternative, for most of 2018-19. And yes, the Blueshirts had Adam Fox and Tony DeAngelo, but the Rangers had 2019-20 questions about both of them during the offseason.
So they made the deals for and with Trouba — who was tough, had his moments and cared a great deal — but barely got a sniff on the first power-play unit (beaten out by DeAngelo and Fox) and wound up playing down the stretch with Brendan Smith on the team’s second/third pair after Brady Skjei was traded at the deadline.
So.
Trouba was not quite what was expected, but then, he had no idea what to expect in New York, either. He had played all six of his NHL seasons in Winnipeg, all of them under one system and one coach, Paul Maurice. He had never been a top-pair defenseman. You have to give him this season as a year of adjustment. You have to give him this season as one to grow on.
The 26-year-old led the Rangers in ice time at 22:34 per game, 19 seconds less than he had averaged the previous year in Winnipeg, when he was paired primarily with Josh Morrissey for the second straight season. In fact, Morrissey was Trouba’s partner for 81 percent of No. 8’s five-on-five minutes over his final two seasons as a Jet. Fitting in with a new partner proved another adjustment.
It didn’t quite work with Skjei, even as they had been good friends for years, since hooking up at the U.S. National Development Program. That would have been the perfect union. But both players had issues of their own and neither had the confidence in his own game to elevate the other.
Fox, DeAngelo and Ryan Lindgren all were heavy on the plus-side in goals for and against. Staal was even. Skjei was on for 45-for and 57-against at five-on-five through his 60 games, a minus-12. Trouba: 41 for and 58 against, minus-17.
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He could be erratic from shift to shift, never mind game to game. He had trouble with his gap and at times seemed off-balance on his skates and off on his rush reads. Trouba was not alone, but had a propensity for yielding the line at a moment’s notice before backing in on his goaltender to the most extreme degree.
There were a number of nights, though (and one of them was at the Coliseum against the Islanders in the game after the deadline and the first in which he paired with Smith), when Trouba dominated with his physicality and his edge. There were nights when he wheeled the puck out quickly and supported the rush effectively. Nights when his fearlessness was contagious.
He recorded only 20 assists after compiling 42 the previous season; 27 points this year to 50 in Winnipeg in 2018-19. But Trouba had 15 power-play assists a year ago and only four this season in playing almost exclusively on the second unit after the opening month.
Again, the Rangers thought they were getting a first pair and first power-play unit guy. Trouba was not that, at least not this season. He has a no-move clause that kicks in July 1 (or the equivalent date if the offseason calendar is adjusted), so the Blueshirts would probably listen if someone comes knocking.
But the contract commitment makes that unlikely. Even if the Rangers could deal Trouba, chances are they’d be looking for someone just like him in another year.