NHL: Rangers name Jacob Trouba captain, Golden Knights sign Nicolas Roy, and WJC begin
Anthony Scultore
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On Monday, the New York Rangers announced Jacob Trouba as the 28th captain in franchise history.
The 28 year-old defenseman joined the Rangers via a trade from the Winnipeg Jets for Neal Pionk and a first-round pick in 2019. He inked a 7 year-deal with an AAV of $8 million soon afterwards.
“Right away when I got here, it was clear that Jacob had a certain presence in the locker room and among his teammates that exemplify what you need out of a captain,” coach Gerard Gallant said via the team’s website. “With where our team is at and where we want to be, he is the right person to lead us there.”
Rangers name Jacob Trouba captain
Trouba, 28, registered 39 points in 81 games last season for the Rangers and added 5 points in 20 playoff contests. His 177 shot blocks were tops on the team and his 207 hits led all Blueshirts defensemen.
“It’s a huge honor, especially in this organization,” Trouba said in a video. “With the history and the past players who were captain before me. I grew up watching [Brian] Leetch, [Mark] Messier, [Chris] Drury, and [Jaromir] Jagr. It’s my turn to carry on that legacy for those guys.”
The Rangers were reportedly close to naming Trouba captain prior to the 2021-22 season. Instead, Gallant and GM Chris Drury opted to go with six alternate captains.
“Since he joined the Rangers, Jacob has consistently displayed all of the qualities we want in a leader on and off the ice,” Drury said. “As we look to take the next step as an organization, he is a role model for all of our players to follow and the perfect choice to be our captain.”
Golden Knights sign Nicolas Roy
The Vegas Golden Knights signed restricted free agent Nicolas Roy to a five-year deal worth $15 million on Monday. He was a restricted free agent.
Roy, 25, registered career highs in points (39), goals (15) and assists (24) playing in 78 games. For his career, he has 64 points in 156 contests split between the Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas.
The Golden Knights traded for Roy back in 2019 in exchange for Erik Haula.
World Junior Championship
The World Junior Championship is set to begin in Edmonton today and run until August 20th. Back in December, the tournament was cancelled due to a flare up of COVID-19.
On Sunday, Team USA announced its roster which will see four players returning from the 2021 team that captured Gold. Brock Faber, Brett Berard, Landon Slaggert, and Tyler Kleven are all looking to help the U.S. repeat as champions.
“We had a great week of camp followed by a pair of good pre-tournament games to help us finalize our roster,” said John Vanbiesbrouck, general manager of the 2022 U.S. National Junior Team and also the assistant executive director of hockey operations for USA Hockey. “We had some spots to fill from December and we filled them in well. These are hard decisions, but we believe these are the 25 best players to achieve our goal.”
USA Hockey
–Field Level Media contributed to this article