Trouba defends well around the net and slot, specifically on his right side from the hash marks down, and offensively, you can see the Jets generated a ton of shots from the slot and the point where Trouba would normally be stationed. Trouba’s All-Three-Zone data, courtesy of Corey Sznajder and CJ Turturo, show more good things:

Trouba grades out highly in everything except Zone Entry Defense. To be fair, I personally feel that can be attributed to systems; some coaches, for some reason, seem to be fine with their defensemen yielding their own blue line instead of closing the gap and attacking. Trouba’s Breakups60 show that he is pretty good at that, so hopefully, the Rangers will allow him to be more aggressive at the blue line, instead of letting opponents walk right into the zone.

The cost of this trade is what’s really astounding. Listen, I’m no statistician, but I’m not that dumb; Neal Pionk was, for lack of a better term, a fucking trainwreck last season. He dazzled us with a dope end-to-end, spin-o-rama goal, but he bled shots, was atrocious at defending his own blue line and had his point production dry up after a hot start. The #20 pick is what it is: a lottery ticket, a maybe, fairy dust. Jacob Trouba, on the other hand, is a known commodity and a player that can play a huge role for the Rangers right away.

Obviously, more has to happen with Trouba; he’s an RFA, so this trade likely comes with a long-term extension on July 1st when he’s eligible for one. Larry Brooks of the NY Post speculated Trouba could be looking for a seven-year deal with an AAV (average annual salary) of $7.5 million. The Evolving Hockey/Wild guys have Trouba pegged for a five-year deal with a $7.3 million cap hit.

But this move, in addition to the Adam Fox trade, is yet another reason I’ve been such a huge fan of the moves Jeff Gorton has made since the release of “The Letter” in February of 2018:

Gorton brought in a bunch of stuff — picks, prospects, young roster players — that are legitimate trade assets. Every year, we see teams forced to sell off good players for a myriad of reasons: cap-crunches, RFAs demanding big money, players requesting trades, college players going back to school for their senior year or just a falling out between team and player. For years, it felt the Rangers were never in on these guys due to lack of cap space and assets, but Gorton’s Thanos-esque asset acquisition has put him in a prime spot to pounce when these types of players become available. That’s exactly what he did with Adam Fox and, now, with Trouba.

The work is far from finished. The Rangers still have the draft to worry about, some RFAs they need to re-sign, the looming decision on Chris Kreider, a suddenly crowded blue line — specifically on the right side — and possibly a big free-agent splash (looking at you, Artemi Panarin).

Considering what the Rangers gave up and where they are as an organization, it’s hard to view this trade as anything other than a big, fat W and it’s another prime example of how good Jeff Gorton has been since that fateful letter was released in February of 2018.