Rangers, seeking new direction, cap busy day with big win

NEW YORK -- The New York Rangers sent their now former captain across the country, reportedly ensured their most important player will be locked inside the organization for eight more seasons, and then played arguably their best game in nearly three weeks to cap what was one of the busiest days for any NHL team this season.

“It was a very important win for us for sure,” goalie Igor Shesterkin said after New York defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 at Madison Square Garden on Friday. “It was a really tough day.”

The day started with the Rangers announcing defenseman and captain Jacob Trouba was not going to play against Pittsburgh or participate in the morning skate for roster management reasons.

Will he be traded? Will he be waived? The hockey world reacted with those questions.

Hours later, the answer came. Trouba was traded to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.

The Ducks took on the remainder of Trouba’s seven-year, $56 million contract ($8 million average annual value) that carries through next season.

Trouba said on a conference call arranged by the Ducks that the Rangers told him that they would waive him if he refused to accept a trade. He had a modified no-trade clause. If waived, he’d be open to any team claiming him.

Soon after the trade became official at 3:30 p.m., media reports began to surface from ESPN, Sportsnet and NHL Network, among other outlets, that New York was signing Shesterkin to an eight-year contract worth $11.5 million annually.

The Rangers have not officially announced Shesterkin’s contract, but it’s believed to be imminent and could be announced as soon as Saturday.

“I’m not saying yet,” Shesterkin said. “We’re close, but I cannot say anything else. Maybe we can talk about it [Saturday].”

Signing Shesterkin was the single biggest piece of roster business the Rangers had to accomplish this season. Without a new contract, he would be eligible to become an unrestricted free agent July 1, but the Rangers knew they couldn’t let it get that far with their best player and single biggest difference maker.

Getting it done now removes the potential headache and pressing questions about the goalie’s future, along with giving New York clarity about the position and its future salary cap space.

Similarly, the Rangers can now move on from Trouba and the drama surrounding the captain, a move the team felt necessary with the way it had been trending, losers of six of seven, all in regulation, before playing the Penguins on Friday.

The situation between Trouba and the Rangers had become untenable going back to the summer, when the team was initially hoping to trade him. Trouba, though, would not waive what was a no-movement clause in his contract at the time because of family reasons, he said.

The news became public, which Trouba said he did not like. He said it impacted his play and made it hard for him to be a team leader, an issue since he wore the ‘C’.

“Leading was a little bit harder for me in that situation knowing things that were public,” he said. “If they weren’t public and other guys didn’t know I think it would have been an easier situation for me. Things unfolded how they did. It was tough at times for sure. I’m excited that we’re moving past it and kind of got a new start in a way and can put all that behind me and worry about playing hockey again.”

He gets to do that with the Ducks, his first game with them against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Monday.

Shesterkin gets to keep playing for the Rangers, with the certainty of what is expected to be a new, lucrative contract that begins next season.

The Rangers, most importantly, get to keep Shesterkin, which has always been priority No. 1 for them when it comes to the business of the team.

And maybe now they can stop bleeding too.

They won a hockey game Friday behind 18 saves from the goalie, and eight points from the line that was their best last season; Artemi Panarin (two goals, one assist), Vincent Trocheck (one goal, two assists), and Alexis Lafreniere (two assists).

It was one of the Rangers’ most complete games of the season based on how little they had to defend, how clean they were breaking the puck out of the zone and getting speed through the neutral zone, and how much puck possession time they had.

“I liked the energy,” Panarin said. “A few times we give a couple odd man rushes, but I think we looked much better than we usually played the last month. We’re happy with that and we’ll try to stay with that, positive."

Rangers coach Peter Laviolette called it a starting point for a team looking to go in a different direction, which Friday morning he said was the impetus behind the decision to move on from Trouba.

That’s an easy narrative now after a feel-good win. It’s similarly easy to look at the cap space the Rangers created by trading Trouba and removing his entire contract. The potential that creates is great for the Rangers.

But that potential also means there could be more subtractions, big ones if things don’t stabilize from here. It’s enough to keep everyone’s attention.

“I don’t know if it was intended to send a message, but obviously it does,” Trocheck said. “Whenever your captain gets traded it sets the precedent that if you don’t produce, if you don’t win games, the management has to do something to change it up and it could be any of us.”

Well, anybody but Shesterkin.