On Friday, The New York Rangers traded their captain Jaccob Trouba to the Aniheim Ducks for Urho Vaakanainen and a 2025 4th round pick clearing up just under $7 million in salary cap space for them.
So far this season Trouba, 30, has 6 assists in 24 games played and Vaakanainen, 25, has 1 assist in 5 games played. Last season the Rangers won the presidents trophy and made it to the semi finals and lost to the Florida Panthers who ended up winning the Stanley Cup. The former Rangers captain played the entire playoffs with a broken ankle which many believe played into his poor playoff performances.
During the offseason the Rangers heavily shopped him but were not able to move him because of his 15 team no trade list. After not meeting expectations at the start of the season the Rangers very publicly listened to trades on Trouba and teammates Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, and Ryan Lindgren.
According to Trouba the Rangers threatened to put him through waivers so he can play in the AHL if he did not waive his 15 team no trade claws. While Trouba’s play this year has not been that good I believe that the distraction of trade rumors and the pressure of fans played a role and I would not be surprised to see him get back on his game. While this trade helps the Rangers out because they can add a top 4 defenseman or a top 6 forward in the immediate future, they will miss aspects of Trouba’s game like his physicality, fearless shot blocking, good penalty killing presence and leadership on and off the ice.
With Trouba gone the Rangers struggles have continued with losses to the Seattle Kraken and Chicago Blackhawks who both were under NHL .500 when the games took place. This trade makes some sense for the Ducks as well. While the Ducks are kind of doing the Rangers a favor and maybe could have got an asset back I do believe Trouba is a good fit in Anaheim.
The Ducks have a lot of young Defensemen on their roster including Pavel Mintyukov, Jackson Lacombe, Drew Helleson, and Olen Zellweger and I think adding another leader to their blue line can be valuable. This trade also opens the door for the Ducks to trade Trouba 50% retained. The Ducks can afford to pay half of his contract which expires after next season and If Trouba plays well for them I can see them getting close to if not a first round pick. I can see a lot of teams being very interested in acquiring Trouba for just $4 million.
On Monday the Colorado Avalanche traded Alexandar Georgiev, 28, alongside Nikolai Kovalenko, 25, a 2026 second round pick and a 2025 5th round pick to the San Jose Sharks for Mackenzie Blackwood, 28, Givani Smith, 26, a 2027 5th round pick. So far this season, Georgiev has a .874 save% in his 18 appearances in net, Kovalenko has 4 goals and 4 assists in 28 games played, Blackwood has a .909 save% in 19 games played, and Smith has no points through his 6 games played this season.
The Avs now have a completely different goalie tandem from just two weeks ago. This is a very necessary upgrade. In 2022-23 Georgiev had his best season with the Avs with a .918 save% and was 7th in vezina voting. However in his last 4 seasons that was his only time stopping over 90% of his shots and after his disastrous start to the season it is becoming more and more clear that his impressive 2023 campaign might of been a fluke.
While some might think Blackwood will not be much of an upgrade I disagree. While Blackwood was not good at the end of his tenure with the New Jersey Devils he has been serviceable behind a very bad Sharks defense and that has been overlooked because of how the Sharks have been since acquiring him. They also acquired Givani Smith who can be plugged in on the 4th line if there are any injuries.
The Sharks made out very well in this deal. While Blackwood has been solid for them they have their future number one with Yaroslav Askarov. The 2nd round and 5th round picks are nice assets and while Kovalenko did not put up huge offensive numbers when given chances in the top 6 for the Avs he definitely has a future as at least a bottom 6 NHL forward and has the potential to be better than that.
It is also worth mentioning that this is his first year playing in north america and that is not a easy transition from the KHL who play on bigger ice surfaces. When you consider the fact the Sharks got all of that for Smith, Blackwood who they aquired from the Devils for a 6th round pick less than two years ago and a 5th round pick years into the future I think it is fair to say they did pretty well.
They did have to take on Georgiev’s contract but it expires this year. The Sharks have more than enough cap space to the point where it’s not a problem and in the off chance he plays well for them maybe they can trade him at the deadline for more assets.
