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“But I’m super excited for a new hockey opportunity and a new place. It’s different, so that’s something you’re naturally excited about. I haven’t thought too much into it, but I know a couple of guys there. You know about the city and playing at MSG on the road, for me, was one of my favourite spots to play. Just with the history and the crowd and the buzz, it’s just a whole new world. I’m excited for new avenues of life and new experiences.”

Trouba, 25, had a feeling his time with the Jets was likely coming to an end this off-season, but it’s not like he has been glued to his phone waiting for a move to be announced.

“Not too crazy, I didn’t really have much insight into it, I knew as much as everybody else knew, with the rumours and what not. But I wasn’t really expecting anything today and then I got a phone call,” Trouba said in a telephone interview less than an hour after learning the news. “I just find out when everybody else finds out, through rumours and Twitter and what-not. I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to it. I keep tabs on it, but it was out of my control and I just do my normal stuff I do, throughout the day and in the summer.”

Folks around here aren’t going to like the fact a homegrown draft pick is gone — and that’s OK.

But this decision is about more than hockey for Trouba.

It’s personal.

“It’s a great opportunity for myself and my fiancée,” said Trouba, whose partner is about to start her residency in her quest to become a doctor. “Her career is as important as my career. We both are passionate about different things and our goal from a couple of years back was we wanted to make this work. And we decided we wanted to make this work. This is part of it, to be realistic with you.