NY Rangers Rumors: Is A Jacob Trouba Buyout On The Horizon?

After a disappointing finish to the conference finals for the New York Rangers, a lot of the buzz around Madison Square Garden (or at least, certainly among the fans and followers that frequent the arena), is that the Blueshirts need to seriously consider a buyout of captain Jacob Trouba.

His 7-year, $8 million AAV contract is looking like an albatross, and with two years still to run, it's unlikely the team will be able to find a trade partner or get a satisfactory return, even with some retention.

The calculations have been done by CapFriendly, and a buyout of Trouba would result in a $4 million cap hit over each of the next two seasons, and then $2 million in each of the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons. That just might be more palatable than paying $8 million for a second or even third-pairing d-man for two more years.

In case anyone is wondering: a Trouba buyout would result in a $4m cap hit for the ‘25 & ‘26 seasons & $2m in ‘27 & ‘28.
— Peter Fegan (@PeterFegan8) June 2, 2024

After a 50-point season with the Winnipeg Jets in 2018-19, the Rangers inadvisably signed him to a seven-year, $56 million free agent deal. It immediately looked problematic, as his points total dropped by 50% in his first season in New York. He's never come close to rebounding to that 50-point level, though his 2021-22 campaign saw him post a plus/minus rating of +25 with a career-high 11 goals and 39 points.

This season, however, more disappointment, as he continued to have trouble moving the puck out of his own zone, and also in preventing zone entries. He registered three goals and 22 points in 69 games with a -4 rating. He was a -3 in the last four games against the Florida Panthers which included three straight losses and elimination from the playoffs.

On top of all that, Trouba has a 15-team no-trade clause this coming season, so even if they were to find a team somehow willing to take him on, it might not fly.

A buyout just might be on the table.