Report: Another veteran defenseman was included in Trouba trade until the last moment

Veteran defenseman Jacob Trouba makes his debut with the Anaheim Ducks this evening following Frida's trade from the New York Rangers.

Trouba, of course, was sent to the Ducks in exchange for Urho Vakanainen and a 4th round pick after he reportedly faced the threat of being placed on waivers by Rangers GM Chris Drury. It was rumored that the Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres and Columbus Blue Jackets were all in the mix to acquire Trouba, but that Trouba utilized his no-trade clause to facilitate a trade with the Ducks. What wasn't reported this past weekend though was that another veteran defenseman was originally included in the deal before the Rangers backed down.

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported on his latest 32 Thoughts podcast with Sportsnet that veteran defenseman Cam Fowler was expected to head to New York as part of the deal, but that the Rangers couldn't fit his contract into their salary structure.

From Friedman:

"I heard that Anaheim wanted Fowler in this deal and I would have no doubt that Fowler wanted to be in this deal, I mean it's been out there he wants to be traded, he wants to play for a contender. Obviously at the end of the day they couldn't get it done and I think one of the reasons is New York wanted the flexibility for both this year and next, they have a ton of cap room this year and Fowler is at $6.5m next year, I don't think they wanted that."

- Elliotte Friedman

Honestly, I would have loved to have seen Fowler on the Rangers. He's been languishing with the Ducks for a lifetime now and hasn't played a Stanley Cup Playoff game since 2017. He's having the roughest season of his NHL career so far though and at $6.5m both this year and next year, I don't see there being much of a market for him out there.