Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman flew solo on the latest edition of the “32 Thoughts” podcast, issuing a set of “post-draft ramblings,” and at the 12:09 mark of his Saturday evening-posted podcast, he says this about the Jacob Trouba situation:
“Okay, Trouba. I’m gonna admit this right out: I am not sure what is going on here. I had people saying to me that it was very real, the Rangers were trying to push it along, and they thought that if they could work out something with Detroit, Trouba would be willing to go there. And then I had some people tell me on Saturday that, ‘It’s not close, you guys are getting way too ahead of yourselves, and this is far, far more of a challenge than you think it’s going to be.’
“So the one thing I am reasonably certain of is that this whole situation that has developed over the last week or two, has been hard on Trouba. Like, if you go back to when he was left Winnipeg and was traded from Winnipeg, both the Jets and the player were ready for a divorce. It was just time, it was time for both to move on, and they did.
“In this particular case, the Rangers may have decided, for cap reasons, that they have to do this, but that doesn’t mean that Trouba is ready for this. I think he was disappointed, I think he was shocked, and I think he’s still processing this possibility here.
“He also has a very aggressive agent, Kurt Overhardt, who will fight for his client in this one, and while Overhardt wasn’t talking on Saturday, what one other agent told me was, when Trouba submits his [no-trade] list, will he make it strategic? As in, and his list is due on July 1st, will he make it strategic, so that places that the Rangers might actually be able to trade him to, or think they will be able to trade him to, will they be blocked?
“So there’s a lot here, and one of the things I think has really made this challenging is that Trouba has struggled with the idea that the Rangers might want to move on from him.
“Just one final thing to keep an eye on with Trouba though, is, remember what happened with Barclay Goodrow. He wouldn’t waive, and [Rangers GM] Chris Drury put him on waivers, and Goodrow got claimed by San Jose.
“Trouba’s contract goes from a no-move clause to a modified no-trade. So, will Drury consider the same path, all of that has to be determined in the next few days. So that’s the best intel I can give you, sorry if you don’t think it’s good enough.”
