The New York Rangers have traded defenseman Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a conditional fourth-round draft pick in 2025.

The Ducks receive:

Trouba, who the Rangers have been trying to unload since the summer. The Rangers' recent 1-6-0 record expedited the trade, and they were even reportedly considering waivers if they could not trade him. With Stanley Cup aspirations, the Rangers decided they could not afford to roster a struggling defenseman with an $8 million cap hit.

The Rangers receive:

Vaakanainen, who has played just five games this season and is currently on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. He played in 68 games for the Ducks last season, mainly as a third-pairing defenseman.

Analysis:

Trouba is nothing more than a depth option in pure points leagues, as he scores at a 25-40-point pace. However, he racks up hits, penalty minutes, and even shots on goal, which can be valuable in leagues that reward those stats. Trouba's icetime had decreased this season, affecting his peripheral totals. It's possible that his icetime increases slightly in Anaheim, which would improve his ability to contribute to fantasy teams.  

Don't be surprised to see Trouba get flipped before the deadline. Because of their cap space, the Ducks can easily retain money that values Trouba's physical play and right shot but cannot allocate more than $4 million. That makes his role kind of uncertain. Perhaps he is being brought on to help young d-men like Olen Zellweger, Pavel Mintyukov, and Jackson LaCombe become better physically. He could take on a secondary power-play role, but the Ducks are better suited development-wise to play their younger defensemen there.

In the present, the Ducks instantly become a more physical team with both Trouba and Radko Gudas, but they will likely play on different pairs since they are both right-shot defensemen and play a similar type of game. The Ducks have a shortage of right-shot defensemen, which is why this trade makes sense in the short term to some degree. Using two left-shot defensemen on a pair hasn't been uncommon for the Ducks, so it's possible that RD Drew Helleson is the odd man out. Or one of the other young defensemen listed above could be healthy scratched, although it would only likely be for a game or two.

Victor Mancini had been recalled, and he should take Trouba's place on the right side of the defense for the Rangers, playing on the third pair. Once Vaakanainen is healthy, he could push Zac Jones for minutes on the left side.

Players this helps, in order:

Trouba

Mancini

Players this hurts, in order:

Helleson

Jones

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