After a six month stand off, Jacob Trouba finally re-signed with the Winnipeg Jets on a two-year bridge deal this Monday.
Jacob Trouba Re-signs, Future Still Cloudy
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Stalemate Ended
The standoff dates all the way back to May when Trouba’s camp initially requested for him to be traded. General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff played his hand up to par. Trouba’s trade value was inevitably not being matched on the market, so he played hardball, successfully using his leverage to force Trouba and agent Kurt Overhardt to budge first. Sitting the year out was a very undesirable option, no matter how badly Trouba may not have wanted to play in Winnipeg.
At the ripe age of 22, Trouba has a ton of room to improve. This is likely to earn him more money on his future long-term deal.
Contract Details
Trouba is set to make a pro-rated $2.5M this year and $3.5M in the next. In total, it is $900,000 more than Minnesota Wild defenseman Mathew Dumba signed for in his bridge deal this summer.
A face-to-face meeting between Cheveldayoff and Trouba at a Tim Hortons in Detroit last Friday was reportedly a big part in why a deal got done.
Trouba still has a decent chance of being dealt before the contract expires. He will be 25 when it does, meaning the Jets still own his rights if he is not traded. However, he will become eligible for arbitration.
Locker Room Situation
It’s hard to believe that a room lead by Blake Wheeler would welcome Trouba with anything but open arms. Wheeler is of course well aware of the business aspect in pro sports. He ran into a contract dispute himself when he flat out refused to sign with the Arizona Coyotes who selected him 5th overall in the 2004 NHL Draft. After four years of failing to agree on terms, he ended up signing his entry level contract with the Boston Bruins. “We’re a part of a union” Wheeler noted. “There’s gonna be times where it doesn’t work out.”
Trouba’s stance has been hockey related since day one. He played the right side usage card without throwing teammates under the bus. Not once did he claim he was better than Tyler Myers, nor did he say “Mark Stuart is a terrible defense partner”. He has allies in the locker room and hasn’t eliminated any. This isn’t Evander Kane who was involved in an actual confrontational conflict. Trouba is close with many of his teammates, especially the younger crowd.
Mark Scheifele called Trouba upon hearing he had signed, stating that he was “obviously pretty pumped to have” his friend back. Wheeler would go on to say that the boys “welcomed him back with a big hug.”
Moving Forward
Cheveldayoff maintains that Trouba is a big part of this team in his long-term vision. While there’s no doubt he’d like keeping a player of Trouba’s caliber, his want is far from certain. Don’t forget we’re just a few months removed from Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin “assuring” us that P.K. Subban would be staying in Montreal. A week passed and the supposed assurance was proven to be completely bogus.
Many are suggesting that this is another Kyle Turris/Arizona Coyotes situation. Turris, also represented by Overhardt, held out on the Coyotes once his entry level contract expired in 2011. Turris eventually signed with the Coyotes on November 22, only to be traded to the Ottawa Senators six games later.
In both instances, Overhardt claimed that the hold out was “never about money“. While he is withholding information, this part is at least true. If Trouba was committed to Winnipeg, he’d have gotten a fair, long-term deal. Money isn’t an issue. But Winnipeg, whatever it is about the city we can’t exactly pinpoint, is.
Rescinded Trade Request
Trouba claims to have rescinded his trade request; sometimes you have to say the right things. Kane pointed to the long-term contract he signed with Winnipeg as proof he wanted to stay. After his departure, he admitted to asking for a trade every off-season. We might not want to always buy what the player is selling us in these scenarios.
Make no mistake, Trouba hasn’t changed his mind out of the blue. He doesn’t like it in Winnipeg, but both he and the Jets understand that value comes from him playing. With his a $3 million cap hit, he has an affordable and thus, tradeable contract. Teams can now acquire him and rework a long-term deal once they have enough cap room.
Expansion Implications
The big question now is, will Chevy actually move Trouba? He could explore trading him for a first or second year pro defenseman that is expansion draft exempt.
The NHL has given teams two options for the 2017 Expansion Draft:
- Club can protect seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender
- Club can protect eight skaters (forwards/defensemen) and one goaltender
As it stands, the Jets are set to protect four defensemen (option two). Josh Morrissey is exempt, so they don’t need to worry about him. Dustin Byfuglien and Tobias Enstrom have no move clauses, so they are automatically kept. Trouba and Myers would then need to be protected, making the defense count four.
This leaves the Jets with only four forward protection spots. Because Nikolaj Ehlers and Patrik Laine are exempt, one would safely assume these spots get used on Scheifele, Wheeler, Bryan Little, and Mathieu Perreault. This would leave players like Joel Armia and Marko Dano susceptible to loss. If Trouba was moved for an expansion exempt defenseman, one whose success will reside in the future, the Jets would be able to protect three more forwards.
The only problem with this move is that the Jets compete window is not so distant. Aging veterans like Wheeler and Byfuglien do not have long to go. Trouba is ideal in the sense that the Jets are well suited to win with him in the present.
Potential Trades
The Jets could look at a team like the Philadelphia Flyers and ask for the left-handed shooting defenseman Ivan Provorov. The Flyers regularly start five left handed shooters on defense. When Radko Gudas was suspended, the Flyers were actually icing six lefties. Trouba being a right handed shot makes him a natural fit into their lineup.
Provorov is a good player today, but is probably valued too highly in Philly for this to be a reasonable scenario. What the Jets certainly don’t want is the return Dougie Hamilton fetched for the Bruins. He ended up netting prospect Zachary Senyshyn and two second round draft picks, which would ultimately set the Jets compete clock backwards.
Closing Thoughts
While the future is cloudy, there is still a glimmer of hope. The Jets own Trouba’s rights for four more seasons and are poised for success in those years. Futures are not what the Jets wish to acquire in their current state, which would lead one to believe this is not a contract that immediately gets traded. Chevy will try keeping Trouba around, at least for the foreseeable future.
GLENDALE, AZ – OCTOBER 09: Jacob Trouba #8 of the Winnipeg Jets skates with the puck during the NHL game against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on October 9, 2014 in Glendale, Arizona. The Jets defeated the Coyotes 6-2. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
