To me, Trouba’s fate will be directly tied to the teams playoff success (or lack thereof) this year. Trading your captain is a big deal. If the team succeeds this spring, all is well. Another quick exit and there will be a significant remodeling.
Well I think that's what everyone thinks, really. If we win a Cup, they can hang his jersey in the rafters.
I think pretty much everyone who is anti-Trouba is saying that he's bad enough that he's going to prevent us from winning a Cup (along with some other players, not just him). I think we are good enough everywhere else that we are a playoff team even if they trotted me out there at 3rd pair D instead of Trouba.
The thing is, I don't think we have had a year with him here that qualifies as a success.
We've made the playoffs twice, essentially. I don't count the play-in round year.
We got dispatched in the first round one year. Obvious failure.
We made it to the conference finals another year. Moderate failure? The goal is winning a Cup. We all know that. We have all seen this team make the Conference Finals and even Cup Finals before. And lose. That's not the goal. That wasn't the objective when the letter was sent out. It was to build a sustainable, long term contender.
I can't imagine a scenario that you define this team's post-season a success without a strong showing in the Cup Finals. Getting swept in 4 games or losing in 5 games wouldn't count. It will just signal you need real upgrades. And that's gonna be Trouba.
Trouba has not lived up to the projected growth that many of us expected. He gave the Rangers something they did not have when he arrived but the five year body of work has not evolved as hoped.
It's actually digressed. But the writing was always on the wall and people ignored warning signs because he was big and hit people.
Not smart.
What you have to remember (and many here do not) is the culture of hockey. Trouba is a strong leader. He is highly respected in the room. I don’t know how the leadership group operates around hIm but I don’t see another strong captain in waiting (with the possible exception of Ryan Lindgren) I understand his shortcomings and he’s getting to the age where he will likely start to get worn down. A long playoff run will cover over a lot of these issues (And he would probably have to play well for that to happen) but a short, uninspired playoff run could cause the Rangers to consider acting.
The culture of hockey is an executive thing that they cling to, to insulate themselves from having to come up with inspiration. These are almost exclusively 20-year-old kids. They are "with it," in terms of the new age and changing culture. They will be just fine if their captain is moved.
Am I saying it will have no impact at all? No. But the impact it would have is less than the huge on-ice boost we'd get replacing a sub-replacement level player.