“How impactful Trouba will be moving forward is a legitimate concern, but there’s reasonable hope that a fully healthy captain won’t be as much of a liability as the version we saw in April and May. Odds are, the Rangers will be banking on it.”
That sounds about right, for better or for worse.
albynomonk
I’m in the “keep him” camp. Put him on the 3rd pairing, it will be fine. Schneider was going to take his spot on the 2nd pairing eventually anyways.
flaamed
If Trouba is still on this team next year, Drury isn’t serious about winning
Edit: oh yea people on this sub don’t want to win if it means making a trade
iiKrOna
The core have NMCs there’s not much outside work that can be done
this is the team without counting the Wenny/Roslovic replacements and maybe Lindgren or Kakko if they go with those two
Stonewall30NY
I really want him gone. Even before the injury he was a liability who literally made every pair mate worse, especially miller. 8 million is not what you pay a sketchy 3rd line defender. Buy him out or trade him, you can get someone better for 4 million
darkandlookslikerain
> “It was fine,” he said when asked to assess his performance in the playoffs.
I had been wondering why the Rangers hadn’t posted Trouba’s exit interview on YouTube and let’s just say quotes like this help answer that question!
Robo504
I will say one thing he brings a meanness that is definitely needed. If you are an opposing player you don’t know if he is going to poke check the puck or clothesline you
PeteyG89
It would be for the best if be goes. Cant skate, cant handle the puck or clear the zone cleanly. Way too much money for a third pair. Jones needs to play, esp while on a cheap contract. I dont think a buyout of him is as disastrous as many think, but I get the team not wanting more dead money too.
Shiny_Mew76
Just trade him for Morgan Reilly! The Leafs said they needed more “GRIT”, well here you go!
/j
FoxMan1Dva3
The case against Trouba:
He’s being paid to be a #1 Defender and he’s barely playing to the caliber of 4th on the depth chart. He’s an average at best defender whose style and speed and injury history has left him as too high of a risk for the role we need him in. Get rid of that $8M and you just secured Shesterkins future and added some cap flexibility. Lastly, Trouba has shown to be a net negative defender in terms of opportunities at Even Strength and our even strength would be improved if we upgraded
The case for Trouba:
Trouba plays the style everyone now believes is needed to do well in the playoffs and to win it all, ala Florida. Heck, we are talking about a Captain for a Presidenta Trophy winning team that lost in the ECF 2/3 years. And that energy he brings as Captain rubs off – Kreider is not going to play that style. Trouba has higher potential than what he displayed this year too. We have seen it before. Hes much better on breakouts and I think its more likely that he bounces back. Hes still a good age.
If the Rangers want to sign Igor asap, before UFA, they should find a way to part ways with Trouba now. Him + Goodrow is at least $10M in cap space. We can sign a top 6 winger – Reinhart? Stamkos? Guentzel?
Who knows
Admirable-Yam-1281
That $8 million per year is an albatross around the Rangers’ neck. I guess desperate hope that he returns to some type of decent player but he was a tremendous liability in the playoffs and his regular season was nothing to boast about either. I say evaluate him, hope for the best and move him as soon as we can
albynomonk
r/rangers fans: “Wow Florida is so physical, we can’t compete with them” Also r/rangers fans: “We should trade our one consistently physical defenseman!!”
smh
SS3599
I say trade Kakko, let all the UFA’s walk, resign Schneider and Lindgren. Need to find a partner for Mika/Kreider line. Bolster up and get a physical and offensive d-man.
miloian
I would be shocked if he isn’t here next season.
jtleo106
Buy him out for the $4million for the next two years and $2million thereafter. Use the $4million in savings in the 24/25 season to help get Shesty signed. Just hope someone in the Metro doesn’t pick him up. 🤷🏼♂️
GuaranteeLoose4494
Out the fucking door is where he should go
CheesewheelD
It’s 2024 and we should have evolved beyond bLoCkEd ShOtZ and HiTz.
In a salary cap world, you cannot devote 9% of the cap to a 3rd pair d-man who may not even merit Top 6 consideration anymore given how poorly he produced in the playoffs.
He has a lower salary than cap hit and there is no reason why the Rangers can’t eat 40-50% of it and trade him to a team like Chicago, San Jose, Ottawa or Utah who could use veteran leadership and a still capable d-man on the cheap.
nyfan2112
It’s hard because it feels like, intangibles notwithstanding, if he and Mikkola had switched places, we may have won that series.
kiddchiu
Nyr should try to go for B.Tkachuk 🤤
erniecyou
he’s staying…get over it….move on….pick a diff scapegoat….
IToldYall1
We’re the rangers so of course we’re going to keep him. Terrible decision if you ask me
deathcultcy
I think somewhere during contract talks trouba thought “NMC” meant he didn’t have to skate. Oh well.
Competitive-Code-751
There is no way they are letting him go after being the captain of the team. Do I think he is worth the money he is getting paid? NO! I don’t really think he should have been captain to begin with.
BloodOfAStark
The best case scenario (because I don’t think he is moveable) is that the injury severely impacted him and next year he can be serviceable. Then, they need to find someone good enough to make up for him whether that’s Jones or someone else (can’t be Miller).
Carlo201318
The best K’ANDRE played were the few weeks with Schneider
Informal_Abies_9310
According to Capfriendly if he is bought out now….4 million comes off the cap for 2 years. And 2 million goes on the cap after the contract is done. If you factor in 4.5 million cap increase over the next 4 years that it would take for this buyout to come to conclusion. That would put the cap at roughly at 104 million. So that means the cap 2 years from now when we are just paying 2 million in buyout penalty…the cap is going to likely be 96 to 98 million. I don’t think 2 million will be as big of deal as it was when we had no increase in the cap do to covid.
Capfriendly has us projected for 76 million so far. Take away 4 million. That is 72 million out of 88 million. That leaves 16 million to sign:
1RW, a 3LW and 3RW and on D ….1RD, 2LD, and a 3RD. Everything else on this team is set in stone. So if this confuses anyone, we need to sign 3 wingers and 3 defensemen. That is 6 players with 16 million. Mika/Tro/Chytil/Goody down the middle isn’t horrible.
Trouba scored 3 goals and 19 assists and was a minus 4 for the season in 69 games.
Orlov makes a ton of money and Lindholm does also. Everyone else makes 4 million or less. They are all around Trouba’s age. All quality defenders with a few younger RFAs in the mix. [If you take away production and just look at those that make what he makes or more](https://www.capfriendly.com/browse/active/2025/points/all/defense?stats-season=2024&limits=caphit-8000000-20000000)….the only ones that are worse, are the guys that missed most of the season with an injury. He is literally the worst defender for his pay.
Anything else is just asinine loyalty. This is a business. And a GM is in the business of winning. It is not personal. Drury didn’t sign this deal. But he can’t let it keep going. To many other pieces that need that cap space.
26 Comments
“How impactful Trouba will be moving forward is a legitimate concern, but there’s reasonable hope that a fully healthy captain won’t be as much of a liability as the version we saw in April and May. Odds are, the Rangers will be banking on it.”
That sounds about right, for better or for worse.
I’m in the “keep him” camp. Put him on the 3rd pairing, it will be fine. Schneider was going to take his spot on the 2nd pairing eventually anyways.
If Trouba is still on this team next year, Drury isn’t serious about winning
Edit: oh yea people on this sub don’t want to win if it means making a trade
The core have NMCs there’s not much outside work that can be done
this is the team without counting the Wenny/Roslovic replacements and maybe Lindgren or Kakko if they go with those two
I really want him gone. Even before the injury he was a liability who literally made every pair mate worse, especially miller. 8 million is not what you pay a sketchy 3rd line defender. Buy him out or trade him, you can get someone better for 4 million
> “It was fine,” he said when asked to assess his performance in the playoffs.
I had been wondering why the Rangers hadn’t posted Trouba’s exit interview on YouTube and let’s just say quotes like this help answer that question!
I will say one thing he brings a meanness that is definitely needed. If you are an opposing player you don’t know if he is going to poke check the puck or clothesline you
It would be for the best if be goes. Cant skate, cant handle the puck or clear the zone cleanly. Way too much money for a third pair. Jones needs to play, esp while on a cheap contract. I dont think a buyout of him is as disastrous as many think, but I get the team not wanting more dead money too.
Just trade him for Morgan Reilly! The Leafs said they needed more “GRIT”, well here you go!
/j
The case against Trouba:
He’s being paid to be a #1 Defender and he’s barely playing to the caliber of 4th on the depth chart. He’s an average at best defender whose style and speed and injury history has left him as too high of a risk for the role we need him in. Get rid of that $8M and you just secured Shesterkins future and added some cap flexibility. Lastly, Trouba has shown to be a net negative defender in terms of opportunities at Even Strength and our even strength would be improved if we upgraded
The case for Trouba:
Trouba plays the style everyone now believes is needed to do well in the playoffs and to win it all, ala Florida. Heck, we are talking about a Captain for a Presidenta Trophy winning team that lost in the ECF 2/3 years. And that energy he brings as Captain rubs off – Kreider is not going to play that style. Trouba has higher potential than what he displayed this year too. We have seen it before. Hes much better on breakouts and I think its more likely that he bounces back. Hes still a good age.
If the Rangers want to sign Igor asap, before UFA, they should find a way to part ways with Trouba now. Him + Goodrow is at least $10M in cap space. We can sign a top 6 winger – Reinhart? Stamkos? Guentzel?
Who knows
That $8 million per year is an albatross around the Rangers’ neck. I guess desperate hope that he returns to some type of decent player but he was a tremendous liability in the playoffs and his regular season was nothing to boast about either. I say evaluate him, hope for the best and move him as soon as we can
r/rangers fans: “Wow Florida is so physical, we can’t compete with them”
Also r/rangers fans: “We should trade our one consistently physical defenseman!!”
smh
I say trade Kakko, let all the UFA’s walk, resign Schneider and Lindgren. Need to find a partner for Mika/Kreider line. Bolster up and get a physical and offensive d-man.
I would be shocked if he isn’t here next season.
Buy him out for the $4million for the next two years and $2million thereafter. Use the $4million in savings in the 24/25 season to help get Shesty signed. Just hope someone in the Metro doesn’t pick him up. 🤷🏼♂️
Out the fucking door is where he should go
It’s 2024 and we should have evolved beyond bLoCkEd ShOtZ and HiTz.
In a salary cap world, you cannot devote 9% of the cap to a 3rd pair d-man who may not even merit Top 6 consideration anymore given how poorly he produced in the playoffs.
He has a lower salary than cap hit and there is no reason why the Rangers can’t eat 40-50% of it and trade him to a team like Chicago, San Jose, Ottawa or Utah who could use veteran leadership and a still capable d-man on the cheap.
It’s hard because it feels like, intangibles notwithstanding, if he and Mikkola had switched places, we may have won that series.
Nyr should try to go for B.Tkachuk 🤤
he’s staying…get over it….move on….pick a diff scapegoat….
We’re the rangers so of course we’re going to keep him. Terrible decision if you ask me
I think somewhere during contract talks trouba thought “NMC” meant he didn’t have to skate. Oh well.
There is no way they are letting him go after being the captain of the team. Do I think he is worth the money he is getting paid? NO! I don’t really think he should have been captain to begin with.
The best case scenario (because I don’t think he is moveable) is that the injury severely impacted him and next year he can be serviceable. Then, they need to find someone good enough to make up for him whether that’s Jones or someone else (can’t be Miller).
The best K’ANDRE played were the few weeks with Schneider
According to Capfriendly if he is bought out now….4 million comes off the cap for 2 years. And 2 million goes on the cap after the contract is done. If you factor in 4.5 million cap increase over the next 4 years that it would take for this buyout to come to conclusion. That would put the cap at roughly at 104 million. So that means the cap 2 years from now when we are just paying 2 million in buyout penalty…the cap is going to likely be 96 to 98 million. I don’t think 2 million will be as big of deal as it was when we had no increase in the cap do to covid.
Capfriendly has us projected for 76 million so far. Take away 4 million. That is 72 million out of 88 million. That leaves 16 million to sign:
1RW, a 3LW and 3RW and on D ….1RD, 2LD, and a 3RD. Everything else on this team is set in stone. So if this confuses anyone, we need to sign 3 wingers and 3 defensemen. That is 6 players with 16 million. Mika/Tro/Chytil/Goody down the middle isn’t horrible.
Trouba scored 3 goals and 19 assists and was a minus 4 for the season in 69 games.
Just on a production level not even attempting to account for the intangibles…[here are some players who did about the same and their contracts](https://www.capfriendly.com/browse/active/2025/points/all/defense?stats-season=2024&limits=goals-0-6,assists-10-26,points-23-40).
Orlov makes a ton of money and Lindholm does also. Everyone else makes 4 million or less. They are all around Trouba’s age. All quality defenders with a few younger RFAs in the mix. [If you take away production and just look at those that make what he makes or more](https://www.capfriendly.com/browse/active/2025/points/all/defense?stats-season=2024&limits=caphit-8000000-20000000)….the only ones that are worse, are the guys that missed most of the season with an injury. He is literally the worst defender for his pay.
Just can’t let that be the case.
These are the available[ free agents](https://www.capfriendly.com/browse/free-agents/2025/points/all/defense?signing-status=ufa&stats-season=2024) this summer. You are telling me no one on this list could do what Trouba does for 3 million a year? Which leaves you an additional 1 million in cap space you didn’t have if you didn’t buy him out?
Literally have to buy him out.
Anything else is just asinine loyalty. This is a business. And a GM is in the business of winning. It is not personal. Drury didn’t sign this deal. But he can’t let it keep going. To many other pieces that need that cap space.