{"id":3180,"date":"2016-11-09T20:01:03","date_gmt":"2016-11-10T01:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/?p=3180"},"modified":"2016-11-09T20:01:03","modified_gmt":"2016-11-10T01:01:03","slug":"jacob-trouba-re-signs-future-still-cloudy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2016\/11\/09\/jacob-trouba-re-signs-future-still-cloudy\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacob Trouba Re-signs, Future Still Cloudy"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a six month stand off, Jacob Trouba<\/a>\u00a0finally re-signed with the Winnipeg Jets<\/strong> <\/a>on a two-year bridge deal this Monday.<\/p>\n

Jacob Trouba Re-signs, Future Still Cloudy<\/h2>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/FriedgeHNIC\/status\/795724745056669696<\/p>\n

Stalemate Ended<\/h3>\n

The standoff dates all the way back to May when Trouba’s camp initially requested for him to be traded. General manager\u00a0Kevin Cheveldayoff<\/strong>\u00a0played his hand up to par.\u00a0Trouba’s trade value was inevitably not being matched on the market, so he played hardball, successfully using his leverage to force Trouba and agent\u00a0Kurt Overhardt <\/strong>to\u00a0budge first. Sitting the year out was a very undesirable option, no matter how badly Trouba may not have wanted to play in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

At the ripe age of 22, Trouba has a ton of room to improve. This\u00a0is likely to earn him more money on his future long-term deal.<\/p>\n

Contract Details<\/h3>\n

Trouba is set to make a pro-rated $2.5M this year and $3.5M in the next.<\/a>\u00a0In total, it is $900,000 more than Minnesota Wild<\/strong> defenseman Mathew Dumba<\/a><\/strong> signed for in his\u00a0bridge deal this summer.<\/p>\n

A face-to-face meeting between Cheveldayoff\u00a0and Trouba at a Tim Hortons in Detroit last Friday<\/a> was reportedly a big part in why a deal got done.<\/p>\n

Trouba still has a decent\u00a0chance of being\u00a0dealt before the contract expires. He\u00a0will be 25 when\u00a0it does, meaning the Jets still own his rights if he is not traded. However, he will become eligible for arbitration.<\/p>\n

Locker Room Situation<\/h3>\n

It’s hard to believe that a room lead by Blake Wheeler<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>would welcome Trouba with anything but open arms. Wheeler is\u00a0of 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\u00a0<\/strong>who\u00a0selected him 5th overall in the 2004 NHL Draft<\/strong>. After four years of failing to agree on terms, he ended up signing his entry level contract with the Boston Bruins<\/strong>.\u00a0“We’re a part of a union”<\/a> Wheeler noted. “There’s gonna be times where it doesn’t work out.”<\/p>\n

Trouba’s\u00a0stance 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<\/a><\/strong>, nor did he say “Mark Stuart<\/a><\/strong> is a terrible defense partner”. He has allies in the locker room and hasn’t eliminated any. This isn’t Evander Kane<\/a><\/strong> who was involved in an actual confrontational conflict. Trouba is close with many of his teammates, especially the younger crowd.<\/p>\n

Mark Scheifele<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>called Trouba upon hearing he had signed, stating\u00a0that he was “obviously pretty pumped to have<\/a>”\u00a0his friend back. Wheeler would go on to say that the boys “welcomed him back with a big hug.”<\/a><\/p>\n

Moving Forward<\/h3>\n

Cheveldayoff maintains that Trouba is a big part of this team in his long-term vision<\/a>. While there’s no doubt he’d like\u00a0keeping 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 <\/strong>general manager\u00a0Marc Bergevin<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>“assuring” us that\u00a0P.K. Subban<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>would be staying in Montreal. A week passed and the supposed assurance was proven to be completely bogus.<\/p>\n

Many are suggesting that this is another Kyle Turris<\/a><\/strong>\/Arizona Coyotes\u00a0<\/strong>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<\/a>, only to be traded to the\u00a0<\/a>Ottawa Senators\u00a0<\/strong>six games later.<\/p>\n

In both instances, Overhardt claimed that the hold out was “never about money<\/a>“.\u00a0While 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.<\/p>\n

Rescinded Trade Request<\/h3>\n

Trouba claims to have rescinded his trade request;<\/a>\u00a0sometimes 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.<\/a>\u00a0We might not want to always buy what the player is selling us\u00a0in these scenarios.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0that value comes from him playing. With his a\u00a0$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.<\/p>\n

Expansion Implications<\/h3>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The NHL has given teams two options for the 2017 Expansion Draft:<\/a><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Club can protect seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender<\/li>\n
  2. Club can protect eight skaters (forwards\/defensemen) and one goaltender<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    As it stands, the Jets are set to protect four defensemen (option two). Josh Morrissey<\/a><\/strong> is exempt, so they don’t need to worry about him.\u00a0Dustin Byfuglien<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Tobias Enstrom<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0have no move clauses,\u00a0so they are automatically kept. Trouba\u00a0and Myers would then need to be protected, making the defense count four.<\/p>\n

    This leaves the Jets with only four forward protection spots. Because Nikolaj Ehlers<\/a><\/strong> and Patrik Laine<\/a><\/strong> are exempt, one would safely assume these spots get used on\u00a0Scheifele, Wheeler,\u00a0Bryan Little<\/a><\/strong>, and\u00a0Mathieu Perreault<\/a><\/strong>. This would leave players like\u00a0Joel Armia<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0Marko Dano<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>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.<\/p>\n

    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\u00a0in the present.<\/p>\n

    Potential Trades<\/h3>\n

    The Jets could look at a team like the Philadelphia Flyers<\/strong>\u00a0and ask for\u00a0the left-handed shooting defenseman Ivan Provorov<\/a><\/strong>. The Flyers regularly\u00a0start five left handed shooters on defense. When Radko Gudas<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>was suspended, the Flyers were actually icing six lefties. Trouba being a right handed shot\u00a0makes him a natural fit into their lineup.<\/p>\n

    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\u00a0Dougie Hamilton <\/a><\/strong>fetched for the Bruins.\u00a0He ended up netting prospect\u00a0Zachary Senyshyn\u00a0<\/strong>and two second round draft picks, which would ultimately set the Jets compete clock backwards.<\/p>\n

    Closing Thoughts<\/h3>\n

    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\u00a0years. 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.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    GLENDALE, AZ – OCTOBER 09: \u00a0Jacob 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. \u00a0The Jets defeated the Coyotes 6-2. \u00a0(Photo by Christian Petersen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    After a six month stand off, Jacob Trouba\u00a0finally re-signed with the Winnipeg Jets on a two-year bridge deal this Monday. Jacob Trouba Re-signs, Future Still Cloudy https:\/\/twitter.com\/FriedgeHNIC\/status\/795724745056669696 Stalemate Ended The standoff dates all the way back to May when Trouba’s camp initially requested for him to be traded. General manager\u00a0Kevin Cheveldayoff\u00a0played his hand up to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":757,"featured_media":1822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[361,37,433,612,362,38,357],"class_list":["post-3180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jets","tag-blake-wheeler","tag-hockey","tag-jacob-trouba","tag-kevin-cheveldayoff","tag-mark-scheifele","tag-nhl","tag-winnipeg-jets"],"modified_by":"Ben Kerr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/757"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}