Jacob Trouba was dealt to the Anaheim Ducks for Urho Vaakanainen, and a fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. Before the trade went through, it's been reported that the captain was on the outs with the Rangers.
Veteran defenseman Jacob Trouba was dealt swiftly to the Anaheim Ducks this past week. In return, the Rangers received a draft pick, and a defenseman to stock their coffers. However, as more news comes out regarding the trade, we have learned new things.
One of them being that Trouba had decided to give up on the club before GM Chris Drury decided to finalize the deal with the Ducks.
Spittin' Chiclets reported that news of Trouba being traded demoralized the captain, and caused him to detach from the group.
It's a human reaction to a team that no longer wants you, and it's understandable. But, also troubling how he failed to utilize his resilience.
Either way, he shut down trades to the Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens and Columbus Blue Jackets, which were all interested in him. Instead, he opted to go to Anaheim and made his debut with the club on Dec. 10.
Apparently, in a mind-boggling fact, Trouba has all seven Canadian franchises on his NTC, which is how he got out of being moved to Montreal.
On the 32 Thoughts Podcast, Elliotte Friedman dropped a bomb on us all, as veteran Cam Fowler was a part of the move before the Rangers nixed that idea due to salary-cap concerns.
'I heard that Anaheim wanted Fowler in this deal and I would have no doubt that Fowler wanted to be in this deal, I mean it's been out there he wants to be traded, he wants to play for a contender. Obviously at the end of the day they couldn't get it done and I think one of the reasons is New York wanted the flexibility for both this year and next, they have a ton of cap room this year and Fowler is at $6.5m next year, I don't think they wanted that.'- Elliotte Friedman
Cam Fowler is one veteran Ducks player who hasn't seen significant playoff time since 2017. Yet his $6.5 million, while doable for the Rangers, would press GM Chris Drury against the cap, despite a possibility of him turning things around for the blue line.
