New York Rangers defenseman and captain Jacob Trouba implored that there was not “any animosity,” toward his team following a summer of trade rumors and speculation that made it appear as though his departure was a foregone conclusion.
“Not a whole lot of words,” Trouba said on Thursday. “Good communication with the organization throughout. Don’t have much else to comment on. There’s a lot of things that were said and snowballed and I don’t know, you’re gonna have to figure out where they came from. When you find out, let me know.”
Trouba was referencing reports from the New York Post that indicated his wife’s residency at a local hospital hamstrung the Rangers on the trade market.
“I would say the amount that people just run with random things,” he said. “I’d love to find someone to verify a source. That would be nice but that’s not the standard, I guess, with the media. So we’ll leave it at that.”
The 30-year-old blue-liner has two years left on his his seven-year contract, which converted from a full no-movement clause to a partial no-trade clause of 15 teams. Multiple reports indicated that the Rangers asked Trouba for that list of 15 teams before the change kicked in, which further fueled the speculation that he was going to be traded.
The Post also reported on June 29 — one day before that list of 15 teams was due in — that the Rangers discussing a deal that would send Trouba to the Detroit Red Wings, which only intensified as the summer progressed.
General manager Chris Drury admitted that he “had conversations,” about a potential trade, but maintained that Trouba remains an integral part of the organization.
“I don’t think there’s any animosity throughout the whole thing,” Trouba said. “Per my contract, I owed a list on June 30. I knew that was coming. That’s a pretty standard part of contracts with the no-trade list… We had good communication throughout.”
Now, Trouba will attempt to captain the Rangers over the hump that is the Eastern Conference Finals — the stage of the playoffs they were bounced out of last season by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
“I’m excited to be here, happy to be back in the room with this group and this coaching staff,” Trouba said. “I wanted to stay here. I wanted to be here. I love living here, I love New York. My family loves it here, as everybody is now aware of. As a whole, it’s where I want to be. I’m happy to be here and excited to be back.”
