Interesting to read through this thread, with so much discussion being about Pionk vs Trouba. There’s no question that NYR won the trade in terms of player vs player. The Rangers certainly got the best player in the deal - due to Trouba’s willingness to only sign with a small handful of teams the Jets had zero leverage and were more-or-less forced into making a bad deal. That said, the deal isn’t nearly as lopsided as initially thought, as Heinola and Pionk both look like top 4 guys, either presently or down the road. The Jets are not a free agent destination, and their scouts keep them afloat - they clearly saw something they liked in Pionk and so far he looks far better than many feared.
I’ve always liked Trouba - he made everyone he played with better (Morrissey definitely misses him). He plays with an edge, he’s mobile and quite strong on the boards. That said, his hockey sense is below average (he makes strange decisions at key moments, takes some bad penalties, decision-making on the pp can be questionable), and he’s not an offensive difference maker. He has a hard but inaccurate shot, and his stats were inflated last year due to injuries to Byfuglien, Morrissey and Myers, all of whom were playing above him on the PP when they were healthy. Finally, he hasn’t really improved since he came into the league - his first couple of years he looked like a future perennial all-star, franchise Dman - but he “is what he is” at this point; a first pairing Dman on essentially any team in the league, but a player I doubt will ever make an all-star team or be a Norris candidate.
Without question he makes the NYR a better team - that said, he is being paid all the money and I don’t see his game evolving beyond where it currently is...
Who won the trade? The Rangers did. But under the circumstances, it’s closer than I think anyone expected it to be, particularly when factoring in salary cap numbers.
