The New York Rangers have suffered a blow to their blueline. Jacob Trouba will miss several weeks with an upper-body injury. He exited the team’s recent game against the New Jersey Devils early and did not return. The team updated Trouba’s status late Wednesday morning.
UPDATE: D Jacob Trouba will be out 4-6 weeks (upper body).
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 17, 2021
Rangers Jacob Trouba Out Long-Term
Trouba was having an underwhelming season despite some respectable numbers. He had just three assists in 14 games despite 27 shots. His career shooting percentage is 4.7 percent through the team’s recent contest, which would give him at least one goal if he wasn’t experiencing some bad luck. However, Trouba is doing things that go beyond raw scoring. He has a solid 50.1 percent Corsi For, a 2.2 relative Corsi, and has contributed 48 hits and 33 blocks. He was also third on the team in average ice time on the power-play with 1:48 per game. All the underlying numbers were such that Trouba could have broken out at any time, but that will wait for now.
The Winnipeg Jets originally selected Trouba in the first round of the 2012 Draft. The 6’3″ defender played for the Canadian franchise from 2013-14 through 2018-19, collecting 42 goals and 179 points in 408 games. The Jets ultimately traded Trouba to the Rangers prior to 2019-20 in exchange for Neal Pionk and New York’s first-round pick that became promising prospect Ville Heinola. Overall, Trouba seventh in scoring from his draft class with 49 goals and 209 points in 492 games.
How New York Replaces Trouba
The Rangers will use a combination of players to cover Trouba’s responsibilities. They have promoted Brandon Crawley to the NHL roster per CapFriendly’s depth chart. Crawley is a former fourth-round selection from 2017 who scored two goals and 12 points in 47 total games in 2019-20. Skaters like Anthony Bitetto and Libor Hajek should also see a minutes bump and more opportunity with the penalty-killing unit. Losing Trouba hurts because while he was not producing, he was still seeing heavy minutes. That only burdens the defenders that are healthy and trying to survive the hectic 2020-21 schedule.
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