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Lyle Richardson of Spector's Hockey brought up a name out of Winnipeg that been in the rumor mill a lot--defenseman Jacob Trouba. Richardson points to a piece by Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press who gives us 10 morsels to chew on beginning with Trouba. "Look, it's clear [Trouba] doesn't want to be here long-term," wrote McIntyre," which is his right, but the Jets cant' afford to allow him to walk for nothing as an unrestricted free agent next summer."
That's a tough situation to be in for the Jets although Trouba will most definitely bring in a pretty good haul. The centerpiece of that haul might be determined by which direction Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff wants his team to go. Hockeybuzz.com Jets blogger Peter Tessier asked that question in a recent piece. "The first thing to consider is understanding what kind of team the GM is tiring to build," wrote Tessier. "Is it a fast attacking team or a highly skilled one playing a complete game at each end of the ice? Is it something else, one that will grind down the opposition via size and puck control?"
Winnipeg's Cup-window took a hit with their early playoff exit at the hands of the St. Louis Blues this month and last season they were upset by the expansion Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference finals. They head into next season with a projected $55.6 million on the books right now (via Capfriendly,) a lot of holes to fill and two restricted free agents in Patrick Laine and Kyle Connor who are going to eat up a big chunk of their projected cap space (perhaps as much as $17 million, according to Tessier.)
Something's got to give in Winnipeg and Richardson fully expects Trouba to be traded this summer. "He's a restricted free agent with arbitration rights and a year away from UFA eligibility," he wrote. "Given his contentious contract history with Jets management, it's doubtful Cheveldayoff wants to go through another bruising round of negotiations with Trouba's camp this summer.
"He should fetch a quality return that helps the Jets now and in the long-term."
Tessier surmises that "trading Trouba is likely not to bring back another defender except for a very select few teams" and believe that the Jets will probably need to make two trades with a defenseman coming back in a separate deal. While McIntyre was focused on Florida, Philadelphia and Detroit, one of the "select teams" Tessier mentioned could very well be the Buffalo Sabres who could possibly have a defenseman available that would eliminate the need for two Winnipeg trades.
The Sabres and Jets have a bit of a trade history dating back to the Evander Kane/Tyler Myers deal in 2015 and most recently did a deal in February that sent defenseman Nathan Beaulieu to Winnipeg for a 2019 sixth-round pick. Buffalo also has a right-handed defenseman in Rasmus Ristolainen whose name has been in the rumor mill as of late. He's been an all-situations, workhorse for the Sabres and has regularly been placed in difficult situations dating back to Buffalo's tank years. The overall numbers aren't the greatest but he has size, snarl, is a strong north-south skater and has been a 40-point defenseman four years running. At 24 yrs. old Ristolainen is just entering his prime and he's been very durable missing only 15 games the last four seasons despite him averaging top-five NHL minutes in those four years.
The negative analytics make a straight-up Ristolainen for Trouba change-of-scenery trade almost an impossibility but the Sabres could help out the Jets by taking on a burdensome Winnipeg contract like that of Mathieu Perreault who has a $4.125 million cap-hit for two more seasons while adding more on their part to get the deal done.
To Buffalo: Trouba and Perreault
To Winnipeg: Ristolainen and _______
Fill in the blanks
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