The Athletic Hockey Show - Rangers trade Trouba to Ducks

Episode Date: December 6, 2024

Laz and The Athletic’s Arthur Staple react to the New York Rangers trading team captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks amidst a tumultuous stretch and discuss why this happened now, how this will impact the locker room, and more.Host: Mark LazerusWith: Arthur StapleExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Chris Flannery Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show. Hello and welcome to a special edition of the Athletic Hockey Show. I am Mark Lazarus. I'm joined by Arthur Staples in New York. Arthur, it's a busy day for you. It's a busy day for me. In Chicago, we've got coaches being fired. In New York, we've got captains being jettisoned.

Let's talk about Jacob Truba. This is, you know, we're five years removed from him signing a seven-year monster contract. We're two years removed from him being named Captain of the New York Rangers. And now he's an Anaheim Duck. How did we get to this point? It's been quite a journey, Lasz. You know, he was kind of a coveted piece when they made the trade. You asked out of Winnipeg, this big trade, him to cut to him to get here.

And that was kind of at the, when the Rangers were still in their rebuilds mode, but they had a guy who they liked, who had leadership qualities that I think they liked. And those were borne out. You know, the team got better while he was here. He was still the unquestioned leader so much so that they, They'd been without a captain for a few years before they named him captain back in 22. You know, his play on the ice slipped a little bit as you see with a lot of physical defensemen. And certainly he is one of the most physical guys out there with some of the big hits he's thrown over the years.

And I think maybe his signature moment here will be in that first year as captain. When he threw a big hit on Andreas at then I see you against the Hawks, ended up fighting Jonathan Taves through his helmet at the wall and screamed wake the F up at his own bench. That's kind of stuff that I think inspired a lot of people on this team and in this organization and felt like he was the right guy. But that $8 million price tag ends up standing out a little bit more in the summer. I think when Chris Jerry, the general managers, saw that there was an opportunity at a free agency to start remaking this roster, get them a little bit younger, get them a little bit faster. That's when the problems began where he kind of tried to steer Truba into a move. Truba was reluctant because his wife, Dr. Kelly Truba, as a medical resident in the hospital here,

in New York. They weren't ready to go. They were probably ready to go at the end of the season, but I think the way that he played in the way that the team is playing kind of forced jury's hand into this. And it seems like Trubut did have a hand in saying yes to Anaheim. So I think he maybe got a little bit of what he wanted, even if it wasn't perfect. The Rangers got what they wanted, $8 million off the book. So they made it to the right place. Just the way that we got here was pretty wild. Yeah. So Anaheim sends a defenseman Erho Vakenanan to New York. He was a number one first round draft pick in 2017, but really hasn't done a whole lot in the NHL and a fourth round pick, but the Rangers don't retain any salary. That's obviously the key for them. But they don't

strike me as a team that's necessarily going to use that cap space immediately, right? I mean, do they still think that this year can be salvaged or are they starting to look a little longer term here? You know, I think when you have the level of commitment to being a championship team, trying to be a championship team that have two Eastern Conference finals in the last three years, and in the interim they fired a coach. They got rid of Charred Gallant and now they have Peter LaVuillette. You know, they had gotten rid of David Quinn when Chris Dury first took over and then he hired Galant. That's a lot of change behind the bench.

There's been some change in the front office when Jeff Gordon was fired and Drew was brought in three years ago. So I think the way ownership and the way Chris Dury is looking at it, this Corps has had a pretty good run with a couple different coaches, a couple different executives. They've gone far, but they have to change something. And I think maybe some of the reaction to whether it was true, but starting off struggling a bit after kind of the wildness of the summer, the way that the Rangers got rid of Berkeley Goodrow last summer where he wasn't maybe reluctant, he was a bit reluctant to be traded and they ended up putting on waivers. He was claimed by San Jose. You know, I think there was some sensitivity to all those things in the locker room. And I think the way that they played losing six of the last seven, looking a bit disinterested at times within some of those games, I think kind of

it reinforces the thought from the summer that Drury felt like this core needed a bit more of a shakeup and now becomes a bit of a vicious cycle too if they're upset about the way things have gone and upset about the potential for more moves well the way to alleviate that is to win some games and they really haven't done that lately so I think uh they are going to use that cap space I don't know how quickly they can use it because we're only 25 games or so into the year I don't know if there's teams ready to give up on some of their big name players or or be willing to talk blockbuster trade in the middle of the season. But, you know, Chris Tray was able to get rid of his captain and the full $8 million cap hit.

So I don't imagine they're going to sit around with all that cab space now and see if this has the right effect. I think they want to keep making moves and keep changing things up for the better. You mentioned that Athens'I hit. I think almost every fan base can point to a Jacob Truba hit that they hate. I mean, he's one of those really polarizing players where every fan base hates him except for the one that has him. And I know he was really well respected and loved in that room. That's why he was named captain. What is the effect that this is going to have in the room?

I mean, is it a wake-up call or is it something that's going to, you know, are the players going to revolt over their captain being frankly treated like this? I mean, this guy would earn a, you know, kind of a no-trade deal, a contract. And, you know, he was basically forced to accept a trade because they were going to put them on waivers. I mean, how does that go over in the room? You know, I think we've had some time to see how it's gone over because of what happened in the summer when the Rangers did want to move him and he was reluctant to go. You know, it's an interesting room because there are guys that have been here longer than Trubu. You look at Chris Kreider, you look at Mika Zabanajet, Artemio Panera and came in the same year.

They've got some young guys who were pretty long-term guys, Philip Hedal, Capocco, Alexei Lafranier, Kianjri Miller, Adam Fox. A lot of, there's a lot of veterans, young and old on this team, but there's really only been one leader. You know, talking to some guys before Trubu's name captain, it was, you know, I think one player said to me, if we put it to a vote, it would have been just about. unanimous that he was the guy that everyone would have picked. So I think they know he's the leader. He's struggled to adapt to the possibility that he would be moved, whether it was during the season or after this season. And I think you see maybe some hesitancy of some other players just kind of step forward and grab the reins a little bit. So now with Truba out of that room, are they going to fall apart even further? Are they going to pull together? Are they going to

make their GM make more moves in the short term? You know, he did send out that memo two weeks ago saying that the Rangers were open for business. He mentioned Jacob Truba, and he mentioned Chris Kreider, who's another beloved figure in New York and in that room, having been here for 13 years. And the thing those two guys have in common is neither of them has a no move close, so they can both be in this same situation. Trubba's in it now. They don't pick things up. Criter might be the guy who goes into it next. So I think the veteran guys in that room have had a lot of time to wrap their brains around what this all means and now it's kind of done. Maybe it'll be a little bit of a sigh of relief and they'll know, okay, it's on

us now to kind of lead this team forward or else more changes are coming. Or, you know, who knows, they came out last weekend after, you know, the day after Thanksgiving in Philly. I think they gave up 12 high-dangered chances to the flyers in the first period. So they've got the Penguins tonight. It's Mike Sullivan, who I know is Chris Jury's most desired coach. They've got David Quinn, one of their former coaches who's in here also behind the Penguins bench. We've got Sidney Crosby, who's been a nemesis for a long time, if they don't show up tonight, I can't imagine how ownership and the front office is going to react in the short term after that. So it's a big, big one and an interesting one to see what's coming in a couple hours. Let's just say,

how does Chris Kreider step into that leadership void knowing that his GM literally put his name out there as a trade piece? How does he fill that void knowing he might be gone in a week two? It's a challenge. You know, I think Chris Kreider's been here through a lot of different iterations of this franchise when he came in. They were a team that was a perennial contender getting close, getting to a final, getting to a few Eastern Conference finals. Then he was here through the dark four-year period when they sent out their letter and sold off anything that wasn't nailed down. So you just have to roll with it. It's, you know, I think people talk about it well, it's New York. It's still hockey. The Rangers are not under a bigger glare than any of the Canadian teams, I would

say, maybe even in Chicago sometimes when they were in their heyday. So there's pressure, but I think it really comes more internally from this organization. Jim Dolan is a demanding owner. I think he had some patience there for a few years while they were rebuilding and collecting high draft picks and young guys. And that patience turned to impatience about four years ago when he blew out Jeff Gorton and John Davidson and brought in jury. And I think, you know, getting as close as they've gotten in two of the last three years,

the impatience is kind of taking over at the top here. And I don't think that's an unfamiliar spot for people who watch the Rangers or the Knicks. It's a demanding ownership here at Madison Square Garden. And they're in a phase now where they need to win. They've got a lot of long-term deals, a lot of veteran guys, like I said, a lot of young guys that are veteran guys now. It's a pivotal time. Igor Shasturkin needs a new contract.

They're arguably their most important player. So they have to kind of get to this next phase and still be competitive. and to do it all in the middle of the season. It's a crazy high-wire juggling act, but we'll see if it works. I'm not too sure it will in the moment, but I think they feel like they need to get past this core as it's currently constituted and get to a different place.

As a native Long Islander myself, I've always kind of laughed when people say, oh, they're under the microscope of New York. I'm like, they're six or seventh on the food chain in New York. There's two baseball teams. There's two football teams. There's the Knicks. There's the Nets when they're good even.

It's not that different from any other American city in a lot of ways, But it is, there is an internal pressure that these, I think a lot of these original 16s feel. But you mentioned Igor Shestirkin. How does the rest of this season affect his negotiations? I mean, we all just assume he's going to have a brinkstruck backed up to his front yard. But if the Rangers continue to scuffle like this and they have to rethink where they are, are they going to be willing to commit that kind of cash to Igor Shestirken?

I don't even think it's, are they going to commit that kind of cash? Does he want to commit to them? Does he want to commit to a team that's very much more in flux than maybe he thought they would be considering they got within two wins of Stanley Cup final last spring? You know, the way that he's played so far this year, he's had a couple of clunkers lately during this losing skid. But especially at the beginning, they got off to a 12-4-on-1 start, and it was almost entirely due to what he and Jonathan Quick were doing in net. They were among the worst teams in the league giving up high-danger chances, giving up chances off the rush. and I think part of that was Chris Drury and Peter Lobelet identifying that this team needs to change. The record is a bit of a mirage.

So if Shastarkin thinks that he's going to be under siege, I've been behind this team for a long time and now that some of the people are going to change, and knowing that if he can get 12 million or 12 and a half million from the Rangers over eight years, well, what's the difference he could get 13 or 14 million from a different team, whether it's a Montreal or a Philly, a team that you know is a little bit more on the ascension as opposed to a team that's trying to figure out what it's going to be. So I'm curious to see how the team handles this and whether they have enough time to make all these changes in the middle of the season, still be competitive, still show Chesterkin that they're going to be good going forward for years to come,

and whether he is interested in being a part of it, or whether he says, I'm going to get my record setting contract no matter what. If it's here, great. If it's not here, could be even better. Man, these are terrifying times for Ranger fans in a year that was supposed to be like their chance to go take that next step and win a Stanley Cup. Is this a thing that like they go on a three, four game winning streak here in the next couple of weeks and everything dies down and calms down?

Or is this sort of Damically going to be hanging over guys like Criter all season if it ever, if there's ever another blip the rest of the way? It's an interesting question. I don't know. You know, I think like I said, it's a big risk to do all the stuff, not just in the middle of the season, but kind of in the early part of the season when, you know, there was a lot of a lot of work, a lot of calls back and forth between Jacob Troobus Camp, Chris Jury, other teams to get this deal done that got done today. And that's just to move one guy out. Now, if you're

talking about trying to bring in a big name, big contract guy, other names are going to go out, can you make those, you know, we all talk about the trade deadline, the six weeks you've got in the playoff run. Is that enough time to incorporate a good high level top six forward or top hair defenseman in such a short space of time, can you do it now with multiple pieces in the, you know, with 60 games to go, 56 games to go? It's a question that I don't think really seen answered very much in the recent years because of the salary cap and because teams are a lot more reluctant to make those kind of changes in season. So it's a bit of uncharted territory, I think, for them. And I think I'm curious, a lot of people in the room are curious to see where it goes

and what comes next. But yeah, you know, I think what helps them is they did get off to a good start record-wise, even if the play wasn't where they wanted it to be. And the East is really, really mediocre outside of a few teams. Florida still looks pretty good. Toronto still looks good in the Metro Division, Carolina, Washington, Jersey. But beyond that, I think it's, you know, the Rangers, even if they could play 500 or a bit above for the rest of the year, would be pretty secure in getting a playoff spot because so many of the teams are bobbing around or below 500 behind them. And they certainly have enough talent way more than I think.

you know, 90% of the east. So we'll see where it goes. You know, I think it wouldn't take much to write this ship. They certainly with essentially the same cast of characters won the President's trophy last year. So I don't know that they have forgotten how to win or forgotten how to play defense or play in their own end. But yeah, more changes, more turmoil. It can build on itself and heat this team alive. So we're at a very interesting crossroads right now. We'll see where it goes from here. The Rangers are 13, 10, 10, and one, and in a playoff spot. And this sky is falling. Meanwhile here in Chicago, we're all blindsided that the coach of the worst team in the history of the world has been fired. So different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Arthur Staple, thank you so much for taking some time, busy day for you. We'll let you get back to work. And we'll see you next time on the athletic hockey show.