The Toronto Maple Leafs officially switched their captain from John Tavares to Auston Matthews in a shocking turn of events before the start of the 2024-25 season.
While Tavares was reportedly onboard with the move and actually introduced Matthews as Toronto’s next captain, it’s unclear how this decision truly came to be.
Now with all the uncertainty Jacob Trouba is facing with the Rangers, could he suffer the same fate?
Trouba has been the Rangers captain since 2019. He’s since done a lot to help elevate New York to where they are today and he continues to make an impact in the community.
However, this offseason there was noise that the Rangers were willing to trade Trouba, one rumor even stating that the team was close to moving Trouba to the Detroit Red Wings.
Nothing materialized though and Trouba remains in New York for now.
The Rangers have a number of talented players that some would assume can be intriguing captains including Chris Kreider, Adam Fox, Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck.
There is no evidence at all to indicate the Rangers would ever strip the captaincy away from Trouba who has proven to be a reliable and strong leader despite some iffy play down the stretch of last season.
In fact, when talking about Trouba’s leadership qualities, Rangers general manager Chris Drury had nothing but positive things to say.
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“Jacob plays hard every night, provides a lot of leadership for us,” Drury said via The New York Posts’ Mollie Walker. “Jacob knows what I think of him as a person and a player…”
Switching up the captain would change the entire dynamic of New York’s locker room and possibly lead to distractions and turmoil within the organization.
The Rangers are coming off a year where they won the Presidents’ Trophy and made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Final.
There is no need to make a drastic shift in culture because the Blueshirts already have a strong foundation led by Peter Laviolette and Trouba.
It’s safe to say Trouba’s position as captain is safe leading into this upcoming season.
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