Well, I guess it comes down to what you’re looking for when you talk about “dynamism.” I only ever expected him to be a big, mean, nasty #2D who brings solid offense given his game. And he has absolutely lived up to that expectation. He’s not, however, and I never expected him to be, a #1. His game plays amazingly welll next to a true #1D, or even another #2, but put him with a 2nd pairing guy like Brady, and it doesn’t work well, because either a) he’s left playing the complementary role to a guy who’s wholly unsuited to be the lead dog, or b) you’re asking him to play a slot above his natural position in the lineup with an inferior partner supporting him, thus playing
both of them out of position.
Hits dynamism lies exactly in the kind of play
@Jim Ramsay described above. If that’s what you’re expecting (and it’s something this team has desperately needed since prime McD), you’ll not be disappointed; if you’re expecting a RH Josi or Hedman, then you will be.
I have watched him play back on the Jets too, It's not that I totally dislike his game, he can play that sort of calming role you are talking about, often against the other teams better players.
Two years ago, playoffs for example, he was very good in that role in one series, not so much the next. Last year smaller sample size yet similar stuff in my opinion. Sort of much like I think we see, Jets too would have rather of had Buff or even Meyers play in certain situation and that went beyond just when they needed offense.
He is a good choice for any defensive situation, up in score, PK, yet I think it becomes a much tougher choice to play him when the team is down in score, on the PP, or even 5on5 if they are pushing for offense if they have any better options for those situations.
In the playoffs in a match-up situation against the other teams better players 5on5, Rangers are leading, I'd take that yet still have some level of unease as in the past it came at the cost of his puck moving game where the Jets better forwards were not as often getting those break out passes from him, nor was he skating it out with any consistent authority.
As far as team building goes, if Trouba were a UFA this summer, now that they've seen Fox, DeAngelo, see Keane in the AHL as a lower pair possible option, and are getting good reports about Lundkvist, would the Rangers sign him to the contract they did or would they maybe look to either of those prospects, size be damned, or look for someone less cap hit expensive who has the size, PK traits going forward? Maybe find a way to spend that cap space on a LD instead?
I kind of think over the years the Rangers saw the shortcoming in their RD and they sort of fell in love with the idea of Trouba playing above Girardi, and probably tried to acquire him over that span, once he became available they sort of jumped the gun given where they were in the rebuild.
DeAngelo made some really good plays defensively tonight, closed the gap on a lot of players
