According to an insider, the transaction, which includes £61 million upfront and £13 million in add-ons, is currently being finalized as both clubs review the necessary documentation.

The New York Rangers won the 2024 NHL Presidents’ Trophy award. Even though they didn’t reach the Stanley Cup Final, there shouldn’t be many roster changes.

That’s partly because of their regular-season success and partly because of salary constraints. CapFriendly projects that the Rangers will have barely $9 million in cap space entering the offseason. That figure only includes 19 players on the roster.

Rangers captain Jacob Trouba, 30 years old, has the fourth-biggest cap hit earning $8 million per season. Considering his subpar production in the playoffs, New York could explore ways to remove his salary from their books.

Peter Baugh of The Athletic proposed a trade on June 17 that could help New York unload his contract by sending the blueliner to the Detroit Red Wings.

“A hypothetical (trade) would be Trouba, with some of his salary retained by the Rangers, to Detroit for Justin Holl, who has two years on his deal left at $3.4 million AAV and was a healthy scratch at times during the regular season,” Baugh wrote. “New York could then either buy Holl out for cheaper than Trouba or keep him as an overpaid third-pairing defenseman.”

Baugh thinks the Rangers might find a trade partner, but he acknowledges there is not a great solution to solving the problems posed by Trouba’s large cap hit.

“My guess is there are teams that would be interested in Trouba, but I can’t see any being willing to take on his full contract and send back NHL players to the Rangers,” Baugh wrote.

Why Would the Rangers Want Jacob Trouba Out?

Trouba is the Rangers captain and one of the team’s leaders. The Winnipeg Jets drafted Trouba with the No. 9 pick in the 2012 draft and he played 408 games for the franchise. The Jets traded Trouba to New York in June 2019, and he signed a contract with the Rangers in July of that year, avoiding arbitration.

Trouba has played 340 games in New York scoring 31 goals and assisting 99. His coming off some struggles during the Rangers’ postseason run in 2024. Baugh graded Trouba’s regular season with a “B-” in his end-of-season team review on June 10.

“It was a so-so regular season for the Rangers captain, nothing really bad but also nothing particularly good on the ice,” Baugh wrote. “Perhaps his best contribution was being the captain of a team that needed to buy in right away to Laviolette’s system and style.”

Trouba’s postseason was an entirely different (for the bad) story. Baugh gave him a “D” grade for his postseason performance.

“In the postseason, things took a decidedly downward turn for Trouba,” Baugh wrote. “He was off his game in a bad, bad way in his own end, running out of position often and committing 11 penalties.”