NHL Players Reportedly Bothered By Jacob Trouba Trade Saga With Rangers

[Suntouchable13]

Yah. It’s an awful attitude to have. Fans seem to think that because players can make millions they can throw their humanity out the window.

I don’t even give shit about trouba. I think his hockey persona is a jerk and I don’t like how he plays the game. But this has the potential to became a sticking point with the PA and lead to another lockout. It’s going to reverberate around the league.

But how come players don't take accountability for their own play? Play better and the team won't want to get rid of you. It's a two way street. Players have to live up to their contract too.

 

[Maliks PlusMinus]

From a talent standpoint, I understand and agree with why the Rangers got rid of Trouba and Goodrow. And they didn't do anything wrong by the CBA, and it would take negotiations that the PA shouldn't be willing to drag out in order to change things.

However, Drury handled it in the worst way possible. There were right ways to handle this but he decided to strongarm departures for two guys that the locker room really liked.

100%.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

Part of living in a cap world. Players are judged on their cap hits and expendable once management starts feeling the squeeze. Even fans turn on guys that make too much, even if they are decent players.

 

[Profet]

Weird how none of the players cared when Tampa Bay did this to McDonagh... and then McDonagh went and signed with Tampa Bay a couple of seasons later. So he didn't hold ill will either.

 

[RogerRogerr]

NTC are quasi useless now. It's NMC or bust.

 

[njdevil26]

Trouba has been the same player most of his career. I don't think he suddenly fell off a cliff.

There just comes a point when you're up against the cap and the team is not in first place you start to look at everyone's value. 8 million for him is absurd. The captaincy for him never really seemed right. I was floored it wasn't Kreider.

The Devils have the same issue with Palat. We're up against the cap and need a top six winger... and Palat is making 6 mil and on pace for the worst year of his career production-wise.

Really weird how it was handled. The Rangers offered a gigantic contract... Trouba is obviously not going to say no. Both parties did nothing wrong as far as the CBA is concerned...

I also understand Trouba wanting to do the right thing for his family (wife) when the rumors were all over the place over the offseason. At the same time though, you hear your team doesn't want you anymore... It was obvious this wasn't going to end well.


I also don't understand Verbeek wanting to do this trade and take on 8 million in salary knowing the Ducks aren't competing or even making the playoffs while he's still on the books.

 

[Borlag]

Absolutely no loophole to be fixed. If he publically states that he wont report to any other team, and as such breaches his contract that he has already signed, that includes only NTC, it's his own option to choose between voiding that contract entirely or going with what he already agreed on when he signed the damn contract.

All I can say is that despite not believing in any kind of higher power, thank GOD that the dimwit didn't end up in Detroit.

 

[Voight]

Weird how none of the players cared when Tampa Bay did this to McDonagh... and then McDonagh went and signed with Tampa Bay a couple of seasons later. So he didn't hold ill will either.

He didn't sign with Tampa, they traded for him to get him back from Nashville. He was still on the contract extension he signed with TB a few years back.

 

[LeafGrief]

The league would be better if max contract lenght was halved, NTC and NMC aren't the problem here. The problem is signing guys for 8 years at 28 then crying because they start to suck in their 30s.

Weird how you have zero sympathy for the people but want the teams to get a pass on their own stupid choices.

Bit of an either or, but both contract length and NTC/NMC are problems in the sense of players sometimes crippling a team's cap situation for a longer period of time. The Rags had a problem with Trouba declining during the back half of his career, but they were limited in options to dump him.

Buddy, don't tell me I have an empathy problem when we're talking about a professional hockey player who's on a $56 million dollar contract and has a doctor wife, who just got traded to Southern California (the horror of it all) and is mad about it. I chose the Canadian military for a career and we get sent to places far less glamorous for far less money. I can't count the number of people I know who have spent years at a time serving in other parts of the country away from their wives/husbands/families. We might complain that Bagotville, the ship, or Shilo suck ass, but we don't complain about the career choice we made because we knew what we signed up for.

I think teams should get a compliance buyout every three years, so yes, I do think teams should get a pass on their own stupid choices. The NHL is an entertainment product that exists for the fans, and I don't think that the Jonathan Huberdeau or ME Vlasic contracts are good for the league. Great for the players to get all that money and their lifestyles locked in, terrible for the fans that their teams have boat anchors for most of a decade. Why should Flames fans suffer for seven more years because of a contract signed by an executive who doesn't even work for them any more? The NHL is better when it's a hockey league.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Vegas and Tampa GMs approve of this message.

And that's why they win. Trouba didn't have an NMC. The Rangers did nothing wrong. If anything Drury should have moved Trouba during the summer. Instead he stayed with the team and his play and attitude were toxic.

 

[Caps8112]

zero sympathy for Trouba outside of leaked info as others have said and of course wanting his family to be ok. 8 mil spends just as nicely in anaheim and he now has zero expectations. Its a business. Cant fault him for signing a crazy contract the idiot rangers offered but cant be upset when they legally find a way to move you.

If players really want to have a problem with it, GMs could solve this by not offering any kind of movement clauses going forward. Its a ridiculous idea anyway handcuffing your team further when a massive contract is hard enough to move if the player does not work out.

 

[surixon]

He did, the timing got messed up by COVID delaying his wife's plans for a year. The expiry of the NMC was supposed to line up.

Mocking the guy for poor planning when he didn't plan poorly is pretty unfair.

Also what does not having an NMC have to do with being extremely publicly shopped and then publicly bullied into waiving your NMC under threat of waivers and having zero control of where you go.

The way the Rangers handled this was really poor. If you have this conversation in private then everyone saves face and probably no one is that pissed. Tampa did this to McDonaugh after he won them two cups. Don't recall anyone caring.

Trouba and the PA have no problem with this tactic when the shoe is on the other foot. Trouba tried to publicly bully the Jets into trading him for instance and plenty of agents go public with trade demands. You want things handled privately then practice what you preach.

 

[Machinehead]

This whole thing is a nothingburger.

The Ducks weren't on his list. The Rangers had a deal with a team that was on his list and he blocked it.

The clause worked as designed and neither side was in the wrong.

What the Rangers did to Goodrow has more traction as being a loophole.

 

[Empoleon8771]

Players can choose to hold out and go public to force trades. I don't see what the big deal is for a team to do likewise to force a player out.

Trouba did the same to the Jets years ago and got a taste of his own medicine by the Rangers. Don't feel top bad for him.

This is what is even more ridiculous about it in this case. Trouba was literally an example of a player forcing his way to a different team. But now that someone does it to him, it's somehow unfair?

 

[Filthy Dangles]

This whole thing is a nothingburger.

The Ducks weren't on his list. The Rangers had a deal with a team that was on his list and he blocked it.

The clause worked as designed and neither side was in the wrong.

What the Rangers did to Goodrow has more traction as being a loophole.

 

[Machinehead]

He could have blocked it then.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

No wonder the game is so soft now. Everyone has such deep feelings that they "need" to express.

Sorry I don't feel bad for any of you.

If they had the 24 hr news cycle in 1975 you would’ve heard the same thing

 

[Filthy Dangles]

He could have blocked it then.

I don't disagree, just correcting a fact in your post.

But even then, the argument will be that his is hand was forced by the threat of being waived to accept the trade.

But like everyone said, the Rangers didn't do anything against the rules.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

He could have blocked it then.

But he didn’t because he didn’t want to get waived…

 

[Barrie22]

He could have blocked it then.

Shows he didn't want to go to Chicago, Nashville, Montreal.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

NTC are quasi useless now. It's NMC or bust.

This is definitely a problem.

Players will know now. I can see ufas signing more NMCs

 

[surixon]

This is what is even more ridiculous about it in this case. Trouba was literally an example of a player forcing his way to a different team. But now that someone does it to him, it's somehow unfair?

Yup, and he was apparently only going to sign with the Rangers effectively creating an artificial NTC when he didn't actually have one. Players use all these different tactics all the time to get what they want. I have a hard time faulting teams for doing the same.

 

[BTO]

He had one. The situation is more nuanced than that.

No he didn’t have one. It expired. Hence why he could have been put on waivers. Chris Drury should run his hockey team based on the requirements of Dr Tyson-Trouba?

 

[GeeoffBrown]

One thing they could do is like merge NMC and NTC. It would be less confusing for fans too. So, if you have limited clause, you can still be waived but the teams on your list can't pick you up.

 

[Machinehead]

I don't disagree, just correcting a fact in your post.

But even then, the argument will be that his is hand was forced by the threat of being waived to accept the trade.

But like everyone said, the Rangers didn't do anything against the rules.

I'm certainly not pro-owner. Anybody that knows me knows I'm anti-owner. I've been very vocal about thinking they're all reptiles, especially Dolan. I'm always down to talk about how they blew up a whole season and half of another one to negotiate wage suppression into the CBA for "cost certainty" when they're all already billionaires, but that's a different thread.

That being said, this didn't affect Trouba's earnings at the end of the day. At least the money is guaranteed, which is a good thing about the CBA. If you don't want to give it to him, don't sign it.

I acknowledge that he's a real human and uprooting your location is a real thing. That being said, having to move is a very reasonable hazard in this line of work that should be expected. I understand people are upset about the waiver threat, and we all want to play for a contender, but at some point, it's over. On top of being business, it is also a sport. He's not good enough to play for a contending team, and like, what are you gonna do? Sit around on a team that doesn't want you anymore for sporting reasons?

And look, if the union says "we don't want this" and negotiates something else, then I'm all for it, but it wasn't in this one.