A month after landing him in a trade with the Winnipeg Jets, the New York Rangers have locked up one of the biggest pieces of their 2019-20 rebuild for the long haul, announcing Friday they have signed defenseman Jacob Trouba to a seven-year, $56 million contract.
Fresh off a career year in which he scored 50 points in 82 games for the Jets, the 25-year-old blue-liner was a restricted free agent and would have had a salary arbitration hearing July 25 if it weren't for the deal. His $8 million per-season salary cuts deep into the Rangers' cap and instantly makes him the fifth-highest-paid defenseman in the NHL, but the lucrative price tag is arguably offset by the fact New York only surrendered defenseman Neal Pionk and one first-round draft pick to acquire him in June.
As CBS Sports' Pete Blackburn noted at the time of Trouba's trade, the ex-Jets All-Star "had some incredibly even possession splits" in 2018-19 but is overall a top-pairing defender who logged nearly 23 minutes a night for Winnipeg. Typically, Blackburn added, those kinds of players, especially ones in their mid-20s, fetch a lot more than what Trouba got the Jets in June's trade.
The ninth overall pick of the 2012 NHL Draft, Trouba spent the first six seasons of his career with Winnipeg, scoring at least 30 points in two of his last three seasons. He's now at the center of New York's rebuild after logging 179 points in 408 games with the Jets.
