5 NHL Free-Agency Landing Spots for Jacob Trouba After Ducks' Elimination

The 2025-26 season was a significant success for the Anaheim Ducks. They returned to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in eight years, won a playoff series, and saw several of their top young players take a massive step forward in their development.

Now comes the hard part of trying to build on that success in the offseason.

One of the biggest areas the Ducks are going to have to address is going to be on their defense.

Not only in terms of making it better and upgrading what was the biggest weakness on the roster, but also because they only have a couple of players at the position even under contract.

They have some significant free agents on their defense, including veterans Jacob Trouba and John Carlson.

For now, let's take a look at Trouba's situation and highlight a couple of teams that could be a potential landing spot for him after he turned his career around in Anaheim over the past season-and-a-half.

Anaheim Ducks

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The Ducks and Trouba have had some contract talks, but according to a report from NHL insider Elliotte Friedman there has not been much progress made in those talks.

Trouba is coming off a seven-year, $56 million contract that had started to look like an albatross with the New York Rangers. It go so bad that the Rangers were desperate to move it, and finally did so in trading him to Anaheim early in the 2024-25 season.

It was the right move for the Rangers, and one they needed to make. But Trouba, to his credit, was able to turn things around with a fresh start in Anaheim and played really strong hockey to close out that deal with the Ducks. The 2025-26 season was the first time since the 2017-18 season that Trouba finished a full season with an expected goals share higher than 50 percent.

Given the rising salary cap, as well as the lack of top-pairing defensemen on the open market, it's a good bet that Trouba will get a significant contract this summer. At least as far as salary cap number goes.

Should the Ducks be the team to give it?

They certainly have the salary cap space in the short-term, and they definitely have the need. Given that Trouba played well here, and the fact there have at least been some negotiations, they have to at least be considered an option.

Detroit Red Wings

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When the Rangers were trying to trade Trouba early last season, the Detroit Red Wings were one of the teams that was reported to have the most interest.

Given the way the Red Wings season went this season, given their need for more defensive help, and given the pressure that is going to be on Steve Yzerman to put a playoff team on the ice it seems at least logical to guess that they might have interest again.

The question is whether or not Trouba would have interest in them.

The biggest reason Trouba did not end up in Detroit is the fact he had some control over where he went and reportedly included the Red Wings on his 15-team no-trade list.

Another potential obstacle is that Detroit already has Moritz Seider and Justin Faulk on the right side and may not want somebody playing on their off-side, or limiting a big-money player (Faulk or Trouba) to third-pairing duty. But the bottom line is Detroit needs more defensive help and more defensive depth, and the free agency options are limited.

Dallas Stars

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The Stars haven't hade many glaring weaknesses over the past few years, but right-shot defensemen have been one that has consistently stood out.

Could Trouba be a fit here to help fix that?

Dallas is in a win-now mode and a serious Stanley Cup contender (even with this year's first-round playoff exit), which should be attractive to a veteran free agent that is still seeking a championship.

While there is a fit from a roster construction and need standpoint, the salary cap could be an issue. Dallas is already dealing with the cap-crunch that is going to come from trying to re-sign Jason Robertson, and may not have big money to sign on another big-name defender.

Boston Bruins

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The good news for the Bruins is they were able to get back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season.

The bad news is there was a lot of smoke-and-mirrors behind it and they ended up losing in the first round.

The driving force behind their success was the fact starting goalie Jeremy Swayman stood on his head for most of the season and masked an awful lot of defensive flaws that existed in front of him.

Boston finished the regular season 29th in expected goals against per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 play, 22nd in scoring chances against per 60 minutes and 28th in high-danger scoring chances against per 60 minutes.

If Swayman had been just average, or even slightly above average, the Bruins season might have looked dramatically different. If they just roll into next season and expect that recipe to repeat itself they could be in for a rude awakening. They have to do more to help out their goalie, and a right-shot defenseman should be high on the list.

Whether Trouba is the type of defenseman they need is worthy of debate, but he does seem like the type of defenseman that they like to have: Big, physical, and not afraid to hit people. That is the Bruins' DNA, especially on defense, and he would certainly fit in with it.

San Jose Sharks

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Moving to California and the Pacific Division has served Trouba well, so why not stay there, just on a different team?

The Sharks have the second-most salary cap space in the NHL and only have three defensemen under contract at the moment, and two of them will be 20 and 22 respectively this upcoming season (and one of them, Luca Cagnoni, only has a handful of NHL games on his resume). They need some help there, and some people just to fill out a roster. They also need to keep adding some proven veterans to help complement their talented young roster so they can take another step forward and get back to the playoffs.

Trouba doesn't fill their need for a top-pairing or No. 1 defender, but he would add veteran depth and a physical presence. The cost might be high, but if there is a team that can afford it in the short-term right now, it is the Sharks.