Bleacher Report’s estimable Adam Gretz discusses ways by which teams can and/or should have “moved the NHL’s worst contracts,” and, as we’ve become accustomed to, he cites the long-rumored Jacob Trouba-to-the-Red Wings trade scenario as one that should still be able to happen:
Jacob Trouba to the Red Wings: It seems more likely than not that Trouba will end up staying with the Rangers, making an offseason full of drama, speculation and rumors meaningless.
But in a perfect world, the Rangers would still like to move on from their captain And they probably should still try.
Not only because they need the salary-cap space this season and next season, but they also need to do something to change their defense and become more mobile. Trouba is the Rangers’ captain and a thunderous hitter, but his actual on-ice contributions have rapidly declined. It’s a problem they should try to fix.
Especially if there is a team that might be interested. Like, say, Detroit. That was always the most talked about team this offseason, and even though nothing came together (for one reason or another) let’s stick with that option.
For some reason, the Red Wings were the one team that reportedly had interest and there are ways to make it work — assuming Trouba would be willing to go there.
Detroit still has some salary cap flexibility, but that will disappear when Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider re-sign as restricted free agents. But it should still have some room to work with.
The Red Wings also have some contracts it could send back the other way to help make the money work. That includes Jeff Petry, Ben Chiarot, Olli Maatta or Justin Holl. Are any of those four players upgrades for the Rangers? Maybe not on paper.
Continued; the trade could still happen. I’m not counting it out, even with Mrs. Trouba in New York, finishing up her medical residency, Mr. Trouba enjoying being the Rangers’ captain, a budding artist and advocate for men’s health issues, and the trade taking some work cap-wise from both teams.
But it hasn’t happened yet because Trouba has his 15-team no-trade list and the above-listed reasons, among other issues for both teams that we probably don’t know about.
Trouba would help the Red Wings, and trading him would help the Rangers. But trades are difficult to consummate for good reasons.
