Rangers Have Knee-Jerk Reaction to Oilers Blowout Loss: Captain Jacob Trouba and More on Trade Block
The Edmonton Oilers brought their A-game on Saturday night and locked in a blowout 6-2 win over the New York Rangers, who are looking to shake up their team after the loss.
According to a report from NHL insider Elliotte Friedman this morning, the Rangers are placing Captain Jacob Trouba and veteran forward Chris Kreider on the trade block.
The Rangers have a decent record of 12-6-1, but clearly are signalling that they haven't been good enough this season, and they need to shake up the roster.
Trading Trouba, their team Captain, is a significant message itself. The 30 year old right shot defenceman is under contract for $8M per season for this season and next, and in recent years, his level of play has gone downhill.
In 19 games this season, Trouba has recorded 6 assists. At this point in his career, he's mostly just a physical defenceman.
33 year old Chris Kreider is under contract at $6.5M for this season and two more. Kreider's been with the Rangers for his entire 834 game NHL career.
Kreider is still producing incredibly well for a player his age and that doesn't really have star status in the NHL.
Similar to Zach Hyman, he's been successful in a checking role with skill players, and he's got finishing ability himself - especially close to the net.
In 19 games this season, Kreider has 9 goals and 0 assists. Last season, he had an impressive year with 39 goals and 75 points.
It's surprising to hear the Rangers are wanting to make these sweeping changes given their decent 12-6-1 record, but the team is seeing concerning trends in who they're beating and who's they're losing to.
Through the first quarter of the season, the Rangers have only beat three playoff teams from last year: The Canucks, Leafs, and Islanders. Against lesser teams they've racked up wins, but also dropped some disappointing losses.
Interestingly, the Edmonton Oilers have had a similar trend so far this season. Prior to playing the Rangers, the Edmonton Journal had noted that the Oilers had only beaten one team ahead of them in the standings - now they've beaten two.
« If there is such a thing as quality of wins, then consider the Oilers have only beaten one team that is currently ahead of them in the standings. «
- Gerry Moddejonge
- Gerry Moddejonge
The Rangers are probably making a knee-jerk reaction if they want to shake up their roster because of these results early on in the year, but that's not to say they can't improve the roster by doing so.
However, after seeing Connor McDavid and the Oilers dominate a game should be no reason to make panic trades - he can do that to any other team.
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