Jacob Trouba Traded to Rangers; Jets Acquire Neal Pionk, 20th Pick in NHL Draft

The New York Rangers acquired Jacob Trouba from the Winnipeg Jets on Monday, the team announced via Twitter.

The Jets received Neal Pionk and the 20th overall selection in the 2019 NHL draft in return. The pick was originally Winnipeg's and sent to New York as part of a trade package to get Kevin Hayes in February.

Most agreed the Rangers walked away the winners from the deal:

New York owns the second overall pick and will likely select Finnish forward Kaapo Kakko. Since the Rangers are guaranteed to come away with a talented young player in the first round, they had more flexibility to move a first-rounder that wasn't theirs to begin with.

And that's before factoring in the gap between Trouba and Pionk.

Trouba was 13th among defensemen in points, scoring eight goals and notching 42 assists in 82 games last season. Pionk, meanwhile, had six goals and 20 assists in 73 appearances.

The 25-year-old's contract was undoubtedly a factor in Winnipeg's decision to trade him. He's a restricted free agent, and re-signing him was far from a guarantee when the Jets have to consider new deals for Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor, Tyler Myers and many others this offseason.

Pionk is also a restricted free agent but will come with a much smaller price since he earned almost $1.8 million annually over the past two years compared to $5.5 million for Trouba in 2018-19.

Still, one assumed Winnipeg had enough leverage to extract more value in a Trouba trade.

The San Jose Sharks announced Monday they re-signed Erik Karlsson to an eight-year extension, taking the best free-agent defenseman off the market.

ESPN.com's Greg Wyshynski and Chris Peters mentioned the Rangers as a potential destination for Karlsson. Given that option went, getting Trouba—at a pretty low fee, no less—is a pretty good consolation prize for New York.