Gardner McKay
RIP, Jimmy.
"
Meanwhile, Neal Pionk comes to Winnipeg after a season in New York that started well but then fell off the rails.
As Shayna Goldman writes, Pionk started 2018-19 on a pair with Marc Staal and showed some skill but didn’t produce offence well enough to make up for his defensive shortcomings. As the season continued, Pionk’s defensive struggles combined with a drop-off in points and his minutes were progressively reduced. He continued to score on the power play — and remains a legitimate threat there, with an exceptional 7.6 points per 60 minutes of power play time — but couldn’t keep the puck out of his own zone at even a third-pairing level at even strength.
A December injury caused Pionk to miss time in January and led to conversations in New York about lost confidence. As the season went on and Pionk’s offence didn’t return — he scored 15 of his 26 points in October and November — Rangers GM Jeff Gorton began to speak openly about the need to reduce his minutes.
It’s tempting to look at those factors — an injury, a crisis of confidence and Pionk’s relative inexperience in the NHL — and use them to argue that Pionk’s ceiling is more impressive than his performance in New York. Certainly, that’s what Winnipeg’s pro scouts will be betting on by making Pionk such a key part of the Trouba trade return. The available data doesn’t support that optimism."
Thats kind of it in a nutshell.
That article very politely shreds this trade for Winnipeg.