There was almost no chance Rangers GM Jeff Gorton was going to let defenseman Jacob Trouba get to a scheduled July 25 salary arbitration hearing.
Gorton traded for Trouba, a 25-year-old right-handed defenseman, on June 17 fully intent on having him around for the long term and immediately slotting him into the team’s first pair.
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On Friday, Gorton got Trouba signed, as expected, perhaps for a few dollars more than expected, but certainly in the ballpark.
Trouba signed for seven years and an annual cap hit of $8 million. Trouba’s contract includes $22 million worth of signing bonuses paid off over the first three seasons, per PuckPedia, and per CapFriendly a no-move clause from ’20-’21 through ’23-’24, then a limited no-trade clause in years 6 (15 teams) and 7 (12 teams).
Let’s face it. That’s a big commitment for Trouba. But let’s also face this: He would easily have gotten $6.5 million or more in arbitration, then been eligible for unrestricted free agency next July 1 — when he surely would have gotten $8 million per for the next seven years.
The size and length of the contract can’t be surprising, therefore, but the terms will force Gorton to make some salary-cutting moves. Signing Trouba puts the Rangers somewhere between $900,000 and $1.55 million over the cap (depending on which players are on the roster), and they still need to sign, or trade, their remaining restricted free agents. This includes Pavel Buchnevich, who has a July 29 arbitration hearing scheduled, as well as Brendan Lemieux, Tony DeAngelo and Vinni Lettieri.
So, as we’ve been saying all along, the likelihood is that the Rangers will deal Chris Kreider sooner rather than later, his own contract headed to its final season before unrestricted free agency and a bump to seven years at $7 million-plus per year. The Rangers aren’t likely at all to want to pay the inconsistent Kreider for that term, as he turns 29 next spring.
The Rangers can also trim cap space in a number of other ways, including a buyout of Kevin Shattenkirk or Brendan Smith, or by dealing away Buchnevich, or DeAngelo, or more likely, Vlad Namestnikov ($4 million) or Ryan Strome ($3.1 million). If they trade Kreider, it becomes more feasible that Buchnevich stays.
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Buyouts create dead cap space for twice the remaining term of the contracts, which the Rangers would prefer to avoid. But it might be a necessity now, in the second window that was opened to them when Trouba and Buchnevich filed for arbitration.
Trouba set career highs in games played (82), assists (42) and points (50) with Winnipeg last season, and he was tied for ninth among NHL defensemen (with Erik Karlsson and Victor Hedman) in assists.
He came to the Rangers just before the NHL entry draft in exchange for the first-round pick (No. 20 overall) the Rangers had acquired from the Jets in the Kevin Hayes deadline deal, plus defenseman Neal Pionk.
The Rangers haven’t had a legit first-pair defenseman since they traded their captain, Ryan McDonagh, along with winger J.T. Miller in a 2018 blockbuster that brought first- and second-round picks, plus Namestnikov, defenseman Libor Hajek and center Brett Howden from Tampa Bay.
Getting Trouba delivered and now signed is a significant move in the Rangers’ rebuild, which has taken giant steps forward this summer with the signing of a much-needed legit first-line winger, free agent Artemi Panarin. Gorton has also added defenseman Adam Fox and first-round pick Kaapo Kakko and signed 2018 first-rounder Vitali Kravtsov, plus top goalie prospect Igor Shesterkin and defenseman Yegor Rykov.
But there will be a cost for the nearly $20 million spent annually on Panarin and Trouba. It very probably starts, and doesn’t end, with Kreider.
(Photo of Chris Kreider: Jared Silber / Getty Images)