Peter Laviolette talked to the media for the first time on Wednesday to kick off New York Rangers training camp and one of the first things he was asked about was all the trade talk surrounding Jacob Trouba this summer.
Laviolette made clear that he did not talk directly to Trouba about the trade rumors and drama that took place during the offseason.
“Those conversations weren’t coming from me,” Laviolette said. “Whatever gets said on the outside, gets said on the outside. I don’t get too involved with that.”
One thing the Rangers head coach did emphasize though is that he values Trouba tremendously especially from a leadership standpoint.
Withstanding everything that went down over the course of the summer, Laviolette still has faith Trouba can execute his duty of being captain at a high level.
“I have a great relationship with Jacob. Our team found some success last year, not ultimate success we're striving for, but we did have some success. In order to do that, I think you need really good leadership inside the room,” Laviolette said.
“I think that the players, the captain and the leadership group, they're responsible for how we move on a daily basis. With regard to that, I thought Jacob was a really good captain for us last year. Nothing changes. We had conversations more about the upcoming season and getting ready for it. I thought he did an excellent job as the captain of this team.”
Laviolette is talking in a similar tone to Rangers general manager Chris Drury in the sense that they are looking to turn the page on all of the trade talk that dominated the offseason and now feel the team needs Trouba going forward to do what he does best and lead.
At this point, the fact that the Rangers were shopping Trouba is no secret, but as far as words go, it seems the relationship between the captain and organization is not completely fractured.
