Rangers Sign Trouba for 7/56M

So, since Panarin was signed on July 1, the Rangers have been playing with slightly more than 8M in cap space.  Pundits and, I guess, all of us, have been wondering what fraction of the 8M Jacob Trouba would end up costing, The answer today is 1/1. All of it. This raises a few questions.

First, why today? They had 6 more days to nurse this out and avoid arbitration.  So why today, when they knew they would be absolutely cap strapped as soon as they made the deal?

Hopefully, the answer is they already know how they will become unstrapped, and it won't be too painful. By that I mean, they aren't going to commit a costly buy out or two.  Though they might,  Next year would probably be the only painful year of a buyout  as the Cap will go up again in two years with the new CBA which will probably also offer some cap forgiveness for the teams.  So maybe they are buying out Smith or Shatty or Steal, or someone else. Or, maybe they've decided to bite the bullet and move Kreider, when keeping him could mean the playoffs.  We'll have to see, but the big player costs are now fixed.

Now onto Trouba.  For the Jets, Trouba was blocked by Dustin Byfuglien, but last year, was still one of only 13 D's to score 50 points. Of the 13 Trouba had the fewest opportunities. Now Trouba is not blocked and we could see a serious blossoming as his opportunities grow. So we should already see an improved D and PP.  But what we might also see is a revived Brady Skjei.  Trouba and Skjei are close and were paired in the US National Program as teenagers and I think Trouba can hold Skjei to his old standards.

Thus Trouba should be a big value add on the ice as well as a sunk but fixed cost off the ice.  Let's see what next.

They still have more RFA's and still need an AHL Coach and staff.