The Rangers not only can trade him but will absolutely get pieces of value in return for him, without retention imo. The NHL holds Trouba in a much higher regard than our fanbase or the analytics community. Detroit, Florida like you mentioned, but also could see teams like Tampa, Nashville, even the Canes getting involved to fill their leadership void. I assume Trouba will block the Canadian teams and bottom feeders, but that leaves a lot of suitors.
This all being said, the odds of him actually getting traded are pretty low. He also has only 2 years left and is a prime candidate for LTIR f***ery the next 2 seasons with the nagging injuries piling up. It's not like he is dragging the team down to the basement. Plus he is well liked by his teammates, which matters.
This.
Ben Chariot as UFA returned a 1st from the panthers….
Gudbranson
Savard
I can go on…
Imo he would return more at TDL to a team going for it all, but even in the offseason they will get value.
Budget teams will also be happy his real $$ amount is lower then actual cap hit…
There’s a whole business side to that etc….
Also he’s 30 signed to 32 years old.
Not 34-35 on a 3-4 yr deal…
It’s basically how we got zibby from Ottawa. Not because gorton was an evil genius, but the sens wanted a center that could produce to what zibby was giving them and all ready had 95% of his contract paid off regardless of the cap it…
Not a lot of other teams/if any had that to offer as a return.
Hockey is a strange business sometimes, especially with small market teams/penny pinching ownership…
At least we’ve never had to suffer thru that as a fan base