Ducks acquire Jacob Trouba from Rangers for Urho Vaakanainen, 2025 pick
On Friday, the Anaheim Ducks acquired defenseman Jacob Trouba from the New York Rangers for defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick.
Laz was on it, before Vaakanainan was even informed. The pick is a conditional 2025 4th Rd Pick. And no salary was retained, with #flytogether taking on all of Trouba’s remaining contract. https://t.co/VYlgbexnT0
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) December 6, 2024Trouba has one more season on his seven-year contract, which he signed with the Rangers when he joined the Original Six franchise in July 2019. His cap hit is $8 million, none of which the Rangers are retaining in the trade.
The Rochester, Michigan native has a modified no-trade clause for the final two years of his deal, as there was a full no-move clause over the past four years. Trouba submitted a 15-team no-trade list for this season, with the terms of his contract requiring him to submit a 12-team no-trade list prior to the 2025-26 campaign.
This is the first time Trouba has changed teams in-season during his NHL career. After playing the first six years of his NHL career with the Winnipeg Jets, the team that took him ninth overall in the 2012 draft, he went to Manhattan in a big signing for the Rangers.
Trouba has been one of the driving forces behind the Rangers’ success over the past few years and has done so as team captain since Aug. 2022. Last year, he was given the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award.
So far this season, Trouba has posted just six assists in 24 games. In 772 career appearances, the 30-year-old has potted 73 goals and 242 assists for 315 points, including 19 points in 73 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
Vaakanainen had been with the Ducks since he was traded to Anaheim by the Boston Bruins in the Hampus Lindholm deal in March 2022. Since the transaction, Vaakanainen has seen considerable playing time in the NHL. The Finnish blueliner played a career-high 68 games with the Ducks in 2023-24, potting his first, and so far only, NHL goal against the Dallas Stars on Jan. 25. Vaakanainen ended up posting 14 points.
This year, the 25-year-old has appeared in just five games, as he was placed on injured reserve earlier this week. Vaakanainen last saw game action on Nov. 13, with his lone point came as an assist against the Minnesota Wild on Nov. 8.