Rangers and Red Wings closing in on Jacob Trouba trade.

There are early rumblings of a potentially major trade between the New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings.

Rumors surrounding the future of Rangers captain Jacob Trouba have been floating around since the Rangers were eliminated from contention in the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs after falling to the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final, and it would appear that those rumors have been well founded.

Rangers insider Larry Brooks is now reporting that the Rangers are actively working on a trade that would send Trouba back to his home state of Michigan where he would join the Detroit Red Wings. According to Brooks, it sounds like the Rangers would need to retain a significant portion of Trouba's current contract to make the deal work for the Red Wings.

From Brooks:

We are told the Rangers may retain $2.5 million per year on the two remaining seasons of Trouba’s $8M annual cap charge. That represents 31.25 percent retention that would also be applied to the $12M in salary Trouba has coming over the next two seasons.

Trouba is entering the 6th year of a 7 year contract that carries an average annual value and salary cap hit of $8 million per season, which means that a salary retention of $2.5 million would leave the Red Wings with Trouba at a cap hit of $5.5 million for the next two seasons on his current deal. That is a far more palatable situation for the Red Wings, but you have to wonder if they would seek an additional asset from the Rangers in what would largely appear to be a salary cap dump.

The report from Brooks certainly makes sense when you add in the context of a curious trade this week from general manager Steve Yzerman. Yzerman traded Red Wings defenseman Jake Walman and a second round pick to the San Jose Sharks for effectively nothing earlier this week, forcing Yzerman to explain his decision, and this could very well be one of the follow up moves that Yzerman was hinting at in the wake of that trade.