Vancouver Canucks hockey is back in Rogers Arena as the club faces off against the Columbus Blue Jackets. While we’re all excited about that, it was the New York Rangers who stole all of the headlines on Friday.

The Rangers made a difficult decision to trade their captain – which was handled in a mildly shady manner – while also signing their franchise goaltender to a massive contract extension.

The Anaheim Ducks acquired the Rangers captain in exchange for defenceman Urho Vaakanainen and a conditional fourth-round draft pick in 2025. The condition on the trade is: New York receives the lower of Anaheim or Detroit 2025 4th round pick.

It was a bit of a shady situation Chris Drury put his now former captain in. When Trouba signed with the New York Rangers, he earned a full no-movement clause for the first five years and a modified 15-team no-trade clause for the remaining two seasons. This meant that Trouba wasn’t able to be traded or placed on waivers (without his permission) through the first five years but could in these final two seasons.

This isn’t the first time the Rangers tried to move on from Trouba, as they attempted to move him to the Detroit Red Wings. The defenceman exercised his right to nix that trade and remained in New York to start the season. But at his wit’s end, Drury was perfectly content to just place him on waivers and lose him for nothing.

Funny enough, that wouldn’t be the first time this Rangers regime has done that, as they pulled off a similar tactic with Barclay Goodrow. The Rangers agreed to a deal with the San Jose Sharks, but Goodrow denied the trade with his trade protection. So, how did the Rangers get out of it? They just placed him on waivers for the Sharks to claim him, and that’s exactly what happened.

And according to DailyFaceoff’s Frank Seravalli, they were content to do the same with Trouba:

“Make no mistake, we can say with certainty that one thing is clear: Jacob Trouba’s time with the New York Rangers is coming to an end. And he will be on the move one way or another, it’s just a matter of is it going to be by trade? Or are they going to work around the no-trade clause and simply place him on waivers?”

Seravalli further highlighted the Nashville Predators, Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres as potential suitors for Trouba. However, an under-the-radar team, the Anaheim Ducks, swooped in and acquired the Rangers defenceman.

Trouba isn’t known for being a heavy point-getter, but he has managed six assists in 24 games with the Rangers. He is much more known for the physical side of his game, where he has recorded 190+ hits and 150+ shot blocks over the previous three seasons.

Drury had nothing but kind words for his former captain despite pushing him out the door:

“I want to sincerely thank Jacob for his contributions to the Rangers and our community,” Rangers general manager Chris Drury said in a statement. “Jacob has been an example on and off the ice for our organization and played a major role in our success over the last several years. Since coming to New York five years ago, and serving as captain for the last three seasons, he has demonstrated grit, toughness, and tremendous leadership and we can’t thank Jacob enough for everything he has done for the Rangers.”

While it was remarkable that the Rangers netted positive value in this trade by acquiring a middling depth defenceman and a mid-round pick while dumping his $8 million per season salary, Drury had his eyes set on a bigger fish, according to Seravalli:

“The Rangers have tried to set their sights on trying to snare Brady Tkachuk from the Ottawa Senators in what would be a much larger transaction, which Trouba could be part of.”

Now, we know Trouba won’t be a part of that deal, considering he’s already been moved, but something to keep an eye on moving forward with the Drury wanting to make a splash.

The Rangers locked up their franchise goaltender to an eight-year, $92 million extension, paying him $11.5 million per season. This puts Shesterkin as the sixth-highest-paid player per year in the NHL, tied with both Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Erik Karlsson and Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander. He is also now by far the highest-paid netminder, making $1.5 million more than the next highest active goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky.

The extension comes in a down season for Shesterkin. He has an 8-9-1 record, with a 3.05 goals against average (GAA) and a .908 save percentage (S%). This is a massive downgrade from his numbers last season with a 36-17-2 record, a 2.58 GAA and a .913 S%. However, he earned this massive extension as the new king of the crease in New York because of his career stats, with a 143-68-18, 2.48 GAA and a .920 S%.

Moving off of Trouba and his $8 million for this year and next allowed the Rangers to allocate their money to where it would be better spent, investing in Shesterkin over an aging defenceman who is a defensive liability in the playoffs.