New York Rangers

The New York Rangers will be without their goaltender for a bit of time after an injury.

Per The Athletic's Arthur Staple, the Rangers are placing Igor Shesterkin on injured reserve due to an upper-body injury. With Shesterkin landing on the IR, the team announced that it has recalled goaltender Louis Domingue from the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Shesterkin, 29, is coming off a season in which he posted a 36-17 record behind 1,467 saves and a .913 save percentage. Another strong season from Shesterkin helped lead the Rangers to the conference finals, where they fell to the eventual champion Florida Panthers.

Earlier this month, after several months of negotiation, the Rangers made Shesterkin the highest-paid goalie in NHL history when they gave him an eight-year, $92 million contract. The deal passed Montreal Canadiens great Carey Price's previous record.

Before the new contract, Shesterkin was on a four-year deal with an AAV of $5.66 million and would have been an unrestricted free agent after the season.

With the ink still drying on his lucrative contract, the Rangers will have to go at least a week without their star goalie.

Shesterkin, in his sixth season, has an 11-15 record this year, posting a .906 save percentage with 751 saves. In Shesterkin's absence, veteran goaltender Jonathan Quick will likely see the bulk of the action in front of the net. Quick has made 12 appearances and nine starts this year, recording a .907 save percentage on his way to a 5-4 record.

New York has struggled in the season following its conference finals appearance, sitting in last place in the Metropolitan Division at 16-19-1 through 36 games.

New York Rangers forward Matt Rempe has been suspended for eight games after both boarding and elbowing the Dallas Star' Miro Heiskanen during the third period of Friday's 3-1 Rangers win.

Matt Rempe has been suspended 8 games for boarding and elbowing pic.twitter.com/gVnyqYiFks

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) December 22, 2024

NY Rangers’ Matt Rempe has been suspended for eight games for boarding/elbowing Dallas’ Miro Heiskanen. https://t.co/vzQPkU3JOg

— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) December 22, 2024

Rempe had a hearing with the NHL's department of player safety over Zoom on Sunday.

The NHL Department of Player Safety said Rempe's hit "violated multiple NHL rules," though he can appeal the suspension to both NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and a neutral arbitrator. If upheld, he'll forfeit around $80,000 worth of game checks.

"Rempe explodes upwards into a hard check into a defenseless Heiskanen while at the same time extending his elbow and forearm up and into the back of Heiskanen's neck, driving Heiskanen dangerously into the boards and glass," the department noted.

Rempe was considered a repeat offender, having been suspended four games last season after elbowing Jonas Siegenthaler of the New Jersey Devils last season, and the NHL Department of Player Safety added in its ruling that "players who repeatedly violate league playing rules shall be more severely punished for each new violation."

It was his fourth ejection in 22 career games in the NHL.

He was hit with a major penalty and game misconduct for elbowing during Friday's game, leaving the Rangers with a five-minute power play to kill.

"I thought he led off a little bit at the end. He's just such a big guy," Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette told reporters on Friday. "We killed the five, and we're moving on."

The Stars weren't so quick to brush off the hit, as a scuffle broke out on the ice, with Roope Hintz immediately standing up for his teammate.

Roope Hintz on his reaction to Matt Rempe's hit on Miro Heiskanen 🔊 https://t.co/gyl2FH15Qi pic.twitter.com/92k0S6MZ8r

— Victory+ (@victoryplustv) December 21, 2024

"First, I wasn't sure did he get hurt or not, and then I saw that he was right there laying on the ice bleeding," Hintz told reporters. "Dirty, [from] behind, and he's obviously a big guy, so, yeah, just tried to go out there and do something."

After Ottawa Senators owner Michael Andlauer accused the New York Rangers of tampering due to reports of targeting Senators captain Brady Tkachuk in a trade, the Rangers are firing back.

"This is an irresponsible accusation and we defer to the Commissioner's office," the Rangers said in a statement on Monday, per hockey insider Frank Seravalli.

Hockey Hall of Fame columnist Larry Brooks of the New York Post reported last week that the Rangers "have been in trade talks with multiple teams" and made Tkachuk "their primary target." While he didn't mention the Rangers specifically, it was clear that Andlauer didn't take kindly to the report while speaking to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.

"Here's my frustration: I talk about how I care for these players, and I care for their families — you make a commitment to a team for six, seven years, you set roots in the community, you're part of this community, there's a lot of pressure on these young men," Andlauer said of Tkachuk. "Yes, people might say they make millions of dollars, but the reality is there comes a responsibility with that.

"And when I see our captain, in the one year I've been here (as Senators owner), there's been three separate occasions where there's been fires we had to put out. I can tell you 100 percent there's never actually been an ounce of discussion about Brady Tkachuk being anything other than an Ottawa Senator."

Andlauer added that he believes either Brooks reported false information, "Or he's being fed false information and if indeed he's being fed false information, or people are giving this information from another NHL organization, I don't know — we just had a big memo about tampering from the NHL. I might consider that soft tampering."

Tkachuk has 13 goals and 16 assists in 27 games this season, so he would undoubtedly be an upgrade for the Rangers amid their inconsistent 14-11-1 start. However, it sounds like the Senators have closed the door on trading their 25-year-old captain, so the Rangers will have to explore other potential improvements as they try to make their fourth straight run to the playoffs.

Former New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba told reporters it was "a rite of passage" to be traded on Friday to the Anaheim Ducks.

"It's a rite of passage to get fired from MSG," Trouba said, per ESPN's Greg Wyshynski.

The Rangers traded Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks in a deal that cleared up cap space to sign star goaltender Igor Shesterkin to a record-breaking extension.

Trouba, who had already been scratched from Friday night's home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins prior to the trade, said he believed the team mishandled the transaction.

"My opinion is things could have been handled better. Not blaming anybody or anything, just kind of how it happened I felt was kind of an unfortunate ending to a lot of good times in New York," Trouba said, per Sportsnet.

Trouba had a 15-team no-trade clause on his contract, which he had reportedly used to block trades to the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets.

He confirmed to reporters on Friday that the Rangers had told him he would be waived if he did not agree to a trade.

"It was a threat," Trouba said, per Mollie Walker of the New York Post.

Trouba did not want to leave New York in part because his wife, Dr. Kelly Tyson-Trouba, is completing a residency at an area hospital, according to the New York Post's Larry Brooks.

However, Trouba told reporters on Friday that Anaheim "was one of the places my wife and I were interested in."

Trouba's effectiveness on defense has decreased over the last three seasons, capped off by his struggles during the 2024 postseason.

The trade meant the Rangers could re-sign Shesterkin and shake up the roster after the team's 13-10-1 start to the season, while Trouba will get a fresh start on the West Coast.

The New York Rangers are reportedly set to sign Igor Shesterkin to the largest goaltending contract in NHL history.

The Rangers and Shesterkin have agreed to an eight-year, $92 million deal worth $11.5 million per year, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

Shesterkin will be the first goaltender to earn more than $10.5 million per year. The reported extension eclipses the eight-year, $84 million deal Carey Price inked with the Montreal Canadiens in 2017.

The news caps off a busy Friday for the Rangers, who reportedly traded captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks hours earlier.

The Ducks took on the entirety of Trouba's $8 million cap hit for the next two seasons as part of the trade.

The Rangers, who received defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and his $1.1 million cap hit in return, cleared almost $7 million in cap space with the trade.

The additional room under the cap may have allowed the Rangers to up their offer from the eight-year, $88 million deal that Shesterkin reportedly rejected ahead of the 2024-25 season, according to ESPN's Kevin Weekes.

Shesterkin, who will turn 29 later this month, is in his sixth season with the Rangers and his fourth as the franchise's starting netminder.

Beginning with his 2021-22 Vezina Trophy campaign, Shesterkin has established himself as one of the best goaltenders in the NHL over the last three seasons. He has marked a .921 save percentage, 2.39 goals against average and 109-43-14 regular-season record over that span.

Those numbers have dipped amid the Rangers' struggles to start the 2024-25 campaign. Shesterkin has so far recorded a 3.05 GAA and .908 save percentage while claiming just eight wins in 18 starts.

His stats haven't been helped by the Rangers' defense, which ranks 31st in the NHL with 32.8 shots allowed through 24 games.

Shesterkin's deal is a vote of confidence that he can return to Vezina caliber numbers and backstop the team to Stanley Cup contention while playing behind a stronger defense.

The extension also means the Rangers have five players signed through the 2028-29 season with Mika Zibanejad, Vincent Trocheck, Alexis Lafrenière and Adam Fox joining Shesterkin as long-term locks in New York.

From lame duck to Anaheim Duck.

Jacob Trouba is captain of the New York Rangers no more, reportedly heading to Anaheim in return for a depth defenseman in Urho Vaakanainen and a fourth-round draft pick, per TSN's Pierre LeBrun.

Offical trade call with the league hasn't happened yet, so still pending that approval, but it will be defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a fourth-round pick to the Rangers for Trouba.
Ducks take on full Trouba contract. No salary retained by Rangers.

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) December 6, 2024

Teams rarely make seismic changes in early December, and when they do, it's usually the fallout from something truly rotten.

In New York, the rot was a generally poor season highlighted by six losses in the last seven games. Though there were questions of locker room cohesion and complacency all over the place, the elephant in the room was Trouba, who rejected a trade over the summer and seemed resigned to a departure from New York.

The Rangers ripped off the Band-Aid on Friday. Let's take a look at what this trade means for both New York and Anaheim and grade this transaction for each.

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New York Rangers

We're going to need more space to dedicate a fair analysis of what went wrong for Jacob Trouba in New York. The short version is that his game completely plummeted and the Rangers miscast him as a shutdown defenseman.

Trouba may throw the occasional monster hit, but his footwork, decision-making and positioning did not work well to someone expected to play a lot of minutes. Maybe he can rediscover his identity in Anaheim. That's for the Ducks to find out. It was never going to happen in New York.

And as his limitations on the ice led to problems off the ice, the Rangers are not only moving on from an unproductive player, but also one at the center of consternation within the organization.

The most important aspect of this trade for the Rangers is that Anaheim is taking on all $8 million of his cap hit through 2026 without dumping a contract back to the Rangers. That would have seemed highly unlikely just this past summer.

Even ignoring the return value, New York general manager Chris Drury has freed up a tantalizing amount of cap space to fundamentally alter the identity of this team either at the 2025 trade deadline or during the offseason.

That being said, this is hardly a pure cap dump for the Rangers.

Urho Vaakanainen, 25, has the potential to be the type of cheap, no-frills depth the Rangers badly need on the third defensive pairing. The 2017 first-round pick of the Boston Bruins had his career derailed by injuries, this season included, but he has played steady hockey in Anaheim in an otherwise unsteady environment. He's 6'2" and skates well, and has a proven track record of being able to advance pucks out of the defensive zone.

The Rangers defense has been painfully slow in recent years, and a switch from Trouba to Vaakanainen represents, primarily, a notable improvement in that area. The Finnish lefty has a $1.1 million cap hit and will be a restricted free agent this summer.

If all goes well, he could be a frugal piece to the puzzle in New York beyond this season. A fourth-round pick is also a welcomed addition for a team that has traded the bulk of its middle-round selections the last few seasons.

Ultimately, though, this trade is about disengaging from a toxic situation in the short-term and setting the scene for a fundamental overhaul of the defense that is soon to come.

There are numerous ways the Rangers can build a team with that extra cash Trouba frees up, and the vast majority of those scenarios provide more value than what the 30-year-old former captain has given the team the last two seasons.

Grade: A+

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Anaheim Ducks

The risk involved is relatively low for Anaheim. The Ducks are overflowing with exciting young defensemen. Most notably Pavel Mintyukov, Olen Zellweger and Stian Solberg. Vaakanainen is small potatoes and was likely an eventual sacrifice to make way for an impact NHL defenseman one way or another.

A fourth-round pick won't be missed by a team that has drafted 18 players in the top three rounds of the last three NHL drafts. For a young team still trying to find its wings, it makes sense that GM Pat Verbeek wants to add some veteran presence to his back end.

One can also see why they pounced on Trouba, given the circumstances. They were unable to make a big splash over the summer. Now a big name becomes available in December in an unusual circumstance and is willing to waive his no-trade clause to join them.

And even if Trouba turns into a total bust, what's the real harm done? They still have more cap space than they know what to do with. The deal expires next season, and they can probably trade him beforehand if necessary.

Maybe a mental reset is what Trouba needs. Compared to the high stakes of New York trying to win a Cup, he'll be in the calmer waters of Anaheim where every loss isn't critically analyzed.

There was a time when Trouba was a 50-point defenseman in the NHL. That's unlikely now, but maybe Anaheim casts him in a sheltered offensive role and he can become a top-four defenseman again.

However, if the idea is that this move will be what finally gets the Ducks out the quicksand and in a forward trajectory for the first time since they tore it all down some seasons ago, it's hard to see how that works out. There's a reason the Rangers traded their own captain, and while the media circus played a big role, it was primarily about his rapid decline in performances on the ice.

Most likely, the Ducks are dramatically overpaying a player well past his prime. In that sense, he's not so much different than some others on his new team.

Grade: D+

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Salary-cap information via PuckPedia.

The New York Rangers are trading captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks.

The New York Post's Larry Brooks and The Athletic's Arthur Staple first reported the news.

The Rangers received defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a conditional 2025 fourth-round draft pick in return, per Friedman and The Athletic's Chris Johnston.

The Ducks are taking on the entirety of Trouba's $8 million salary for the next two seasons, per Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

Vaakanainen is owed $1.1 million this season and is set to hit unrestricted free agency next spring. The Rangers were left with $5.9 million in projected cap space following the trade, per PuckPedia.

After the Trouba trade, #NYR have $5.9M projected cap space.

This can fit $8.6M annual cap hit today or $27M at the deadline assuming no roster moves https://t.co/Zwz9vKwABr

— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) December 6, 2024

Trouba was named the Rangers' captain ahead of the 2022-23 campaign. He was skating a career-low 20 minutes per game this season amid the teams' 13-10-1 start.

He played fewer than 17 minutes per night in each of his final two Rangers games, and the New York Post's Mollie Walker reported that the team planned to bench him entirely for Friday's home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Per Walker, the Rangers told Trouba that he would be waived if he did not accept a trade.

ESPN's Greg Wyshynski reported earlier on Friday that the Rangers had "presented Trouba with several trade options for his approval," while ESPN's Emily Kaplan wrote that the Detroit Red Wings, Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres and Columbus Blue Jackets had spoken with the Rangers about Trouba.

Trouba had a 15-team no-trade clause on his contract, which The Athletic's Aaron Portzline reported he used to block a potential trade to the Blue Jackets.

The Red Wings were meanwhile "very interested" in Trouba but were "unable to come to trade terms" with the Rangers, Kaplan reported.

Kaplan had previously reported in July that the Rangers had a deal "in the works" with the Red Wings this summer, but that Trouba blocked the trade.

The Rangers have reportedly been shopping Trouba at least since he struggled to provide consistent defense for the team during the 2024 postseason, during which he later told reporters he had been skating on a broken ankle.

USA Today's Vincent Z. Mercogliano reported in July that Trouba "does not want to move his family" from New York. His wife, Dr. Kelly Tyson-Trouba, is completing a residency at a New York hospital through July 2025, per Larry Brooks of the New York Post.

Since his trade from the Winnipeg Jets in June 2019, Trouba has been one of the Rangers' leading hitters and shot blockers through 364 regular-season games. He finishes his New York career with 136 points (31 goals, 105 assists) in the regular season and 13 points (two goals, 11 assists) in 46 playoff appearances.

Vaakanainen has played just five games this season while dealing with an upper-body injury. He has not skated since Nov. 13 and was placed on injured reserve on Wednesday. The 25-year-old was one of the Ducks' top penalty killers last season and could slot in on the Rangers' PK when healthy.

For now, the Rangers will focus on recovering from a disappointing season start. After two Eastern Conference Finals losses in the last three seasons, the Rangers could be hoping trading their captain will be the push this franchise needs to contend for a title in 2025.