Reports: Anaheim Ducks Could Flip Trouba Back to Eastern Conference

The New York Rangers pulled off the big Jacob Trouba trade this past week, but is he really destined to be an Anaheim Duck for long? According to two hockey analysts, it's possible that the Ducks will flip Trouba to an interested party back in the Eastern Conference.

Luke Fox of Sportsnet suggests that there are teams that would still be interested.

Could Ducks GM Pat Verbeek eat some of Trouba’s salary and flip him to a contender? Perhaps send him back to the East, closer to his wife’s hospital residency, for the final year-and-a-half of the defenceman’s contract?

The reason that Trouba balked at a deal this past summer was, as Fox mentions, a personal matter, in this his wife is finishing a residency at a New York City hospital this year, and he wanted to stick around the Big Apple until that was done.

It so happens that the Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets all were interested in Trouba and participated in talks with the Rangers before the Anaheim deal. It doesn't take a geography major to know that all of those places are much closer to Manhattan than Anaheim.

Of course, none of those aforementioned teams really matches Fox's "flip him to a contender " notion, but it does go to show that there could still be another move for Trouba, who has another year at an $8M cap hit after this one.

Adam Proteau of The Hockey News echoes the same sentiments about Trouba.

We believe Trouba shouldn’t get all that comfortable in Anaheim, because another trade may be in Trouba’s future – either by or before this season’s March 7 trade deadline, or in the off-season.

A Stanley Cup contender will be a more desirable home for Trouba than Anaheim is going to be, both for the rest of this season and next... It clearly feels like Trouba is a transitory asset in Anaheim.

And while many can certainly see the benefits of adding a veteran leader like Trouba for a young team that needs to learn how to win, it still seems like the former Rangers captain should stick to renting and not buying in Orange County.