Former Rangers GM confirms Jacob Trouba blocked major trade.

The situation between New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba and the New York Rangers organization has turned ugly, and a former New York Rangers general manager has now revealed just how ugly.

Former Rangers general manager Neil Smith was a recent guest on the Hockey Night NY podcast when the topic of Trouba's current conflict with the Rangers came up. Smith expressed his disbelief at the fact that the Rangers had allowed the entire situation to unfold in the manner that it has, and was even more surprised that they did so in such public fashion.

"The thing that I'm surprised that in that situation is to allow this to happen, and to allow it to happen publicly," admitted Smith.

Smith would go on to confirm that, upon learning of the fact that the Rangers were looking to trade him to the Detroit Red Wings, Trouba and his team quickly moved to make that impossible for the Rangers to pull off.

"Now you go to him and it leaks out that you've talked to Detroit because he's a Michigan guy... and now you ask him for his 15 team no trade list," said Smith. "They say 'Well screw you we're not giving it to you until July 1st' and what do they do? They put down as one of the 15 no-trade teams Detroit, because it's already gotten out there."

Smith is concerned with how this could impact both Trouba's individual performance, as well as the chemistry within the Rangers locker room.

"Now you've got some muddy waters with maybe the most important guy on your team, the captain, the guy that has the most influence in the locker room," said Smith. "It's something they are going to have to handle."