When the Winnipeg Jets traded Jacob Trouba to the New York Rangers five-and-a-half years ago, many considered it highway robbery for the Rangers.
Jets’ general manager (GM) Kevin Cheveldayoff was not exactly negotiating from a point of strength back then. He knew his ninth-overall pick 2012 pick and pending unrestricted free agent wouldn’t re-sign in Winnipeg and needed to deal him before July 1, 2019 to avoid losing him for nothing.
He found a trade partner in the Rangers on June 17, receiving Neal Pionk and a 2019 20th-overall pick (that turned into Ville Heinola) from then-GM Jeff Gorton in return. The consensus at the time was that the Jets got fleeced, considering Trouba had blossomed into a bonafide top-pairing defenseman while Pionk was a fairly-unproven 23-year-old with only 101 NHL games under his belt and the 2019 NHL Entry Draft wasn’t considered particularly strong. However, some, like this author — who as been at The Hockey Writers for a long time — asked right off the bat if the trade was truly terrible for the Jets (yes, this author brought receipts. See below.)
Related: Is Trouba Trade Truly Terrible for the Jets?
Now that Trouba and his bloated $8 million contract has been shipped off to the Anaheim Ducks in a cap-dump move for pennies on the dollar, it’s clear Winnipeg won the trade.
Trouba Was Rangers’ Captain But Never Lived Up to Billing in Big Apple
Trouba wanted a bigger stage than Winnipeg could offer, but never really shone in the Big Apple or performed as the shutdown, top-pairing defencemen they thought were getting. He struggled mightily his new surroundings after signing a seven-year deal, posting only 27 points in 2019-20 with a minus-12 rating, down dramatically from his 50 points and a plus-eight rating in 2018-19 with the Jets. He then had only 12 points in 38 games in the shortened 2020-21 season.
In August, 2022, the Rangers named Trouba captain after a fairly-resurgent 2021-22 when he posted 39 points a plus-25 rating. He then posted 30 points in his first season with the C. However, he had just 22 points last season and his possession metrics and overall effectiveness waned, leading to him being relegated to the third pairing. Overall, he has been more well-known for his borderline or straight-up-dirty hits and being overpriced than for his defensive or leadership abilities.
Rumours abounded this past summer that Trouba would be packing his bags considering his no-movement clause shifted to 15-team no-trade clause on July 1. A deal with the Detroit Red Wings in his home state of Michigan almost materialized, but eventually fell apart.
The Rangers, considered Stanley Cup contenders again this season by most pundits, are off to a middling 14-10-1 start. Moving Trouba seems to be part of a culture shift; GM Chris Drury — who was assistant GM to Gorton at the time of the Winnipeg/New York trade — seems to have realized his talented-on-paper team is underperforming and things must change if they are to finally get over the postseason hump to glory. 2024-25 could be their current core’s last chance to win; a teardown is possible if they don’t.
Related: Slumping Rangers Must Face Some Hard Truths
Drury got only Urho Vaakanainen — a defenseman with 141-career games and 25 points under his belt since being drafted in the first round in n2017 — and a 2025 conditional fourth-round pick in return. The real prize was getting the Ducks to absorb all of Trouba’s salary.
Jacob Trouba is now a member of the @AnaheimDucks. 🦆 pic.twitter.com/PluxRCeORs
— NHL (@NHL) December 6, 2024
His final career numbers in six seasons as a Ranger: 364 games, 31 goals, 105 assists, 136 points, a plus-six rating, 21:42 average tie on ice, and 329 penalty minutes. He had 179 points in 408 games in six seasons in Winnipeg.
Pionk and Heinola Have Been Far From Perfect But Are Making Positive Impacts in Winnipeg
Pionk and Heinola have not had the smoothest of careers in Winnipeg, but both are contributing positively and have not become albatrosses around Cheveldayoff’s neck like Trouba was around Drury’s.
Pionk, after an excellent first two seasons in Winnipeg, had three-straight poor ones from a defensive standpoint on the second pairing. His shifts from 2021-22 through 2023-24 too often devolved into chaos, resulting in dangerous chances for the opponent, and his possession metrics dropped. However, he has really turned it around this season; in the final year of his four-year contract, he has a 22 points in 27 games for a Jets club that set a new NHL record with 15 wins in their first 16 games and is still among the NHL’s best despite a recent four-game losing streak.
Pionk also posted 30-plus points in all of his first five seasons in Winnipeg and has averaged 21:48 of ice time as a Jet — six seconds more than Trouba as a Ranger for two million and change less. He also has 199 points as a Jet to Trouba’s 136 as a Ranger.
Heinola has not yet established himself as an NHL regular. The intelligent Finnish blue liner has had rotten luck with injuries, including a fractured ankle in 2023 that required surgery and then a second procedure this past fall to repair an infected screw, and has been limited to 39-career NHL games as a result. However, the now 23-year-old is currently skating with the big club and has an excellent chance to prove himself worthy of full-time NHL work with Dylan Samberg out indefinitely with a broken foot.
Those players’ contributions aside, the simple fact Cheveldayoff did not tender Trouba a hefty, lengthy contract to stay, only to later have to dump it for a paltry return, alone makes Winnipeg the winner. Sometimes, what you don’t do turns out to be as valuable as what you do, even if it takes more than a half decade to become clear.
