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Around the NHL: Rangers won’t name captain, Ducks could flip Trouba, Sabres’ GM makes baffling comments
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Photo credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
Shane Seney
Dec 9, 2024, 11:00 ESTUpdated: Dec 9, 2024, 07:57 EST
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We’re back for another Monday edition of Around the NHL, as the second week of December begins. The San Jose Sharks and New Jersey Devils lead the way with 30 games played already, meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Anaheim Ducks have played the least, both with 25 games under their belts.
Speaking of the Ducks, they made some headlines last week and from the sounds of it, there could be more big moves to come at some point before the March 7 trade deadline. Meanwhile, the New York Rangers are moving on at their own pace. Here’s the very latest from around the NHL:

Rangers won’t name captain this season

Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette recently caught up with Dan Rosen of NHL.com and confirmed the team is moving on without Trouba, however, they won’t be naming a captain for the rest of this season.
The Rangers are open to naming another alternate captain, which could come in the next couple of weeks. New York’s current alternates are Adam Fox, Chris Kreider, Artemi Panarin, and Mika Zibanejad. Kreider is another potential trade candidate to watch as his name surfaced with Trouba’s a couple of weeks ago when Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman opened up everyone’s eyes to what the Rangers had cooking.

Potential for Ducks to flip Jacob Trouba

The Ducks acquired rugged defenceman Jacob Trouba from the New York Rangers last Friday in exchange for defenceman Urho Vaakanainen and a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick. According to Sportsnet’s Luke Fox, don’t rule out the possibility of the Ducks using Trouba as a fluid asset.
“Could Ducks GM Pat Verbeek eat some of Trouba’s salary and flip him to a contender? Perhaps send him back to the East, closer to his wife’s hospital residency, for the final year-and-a-half of the defenseman’s contract?” Fox suggests. The Ducks are at the bottom of the Western Conference standings so there’s certainly the possibility they try and flip the 30-year-old blueliner for a younger asset.
It was an ugly divorce for the Rangers and their captain, as trade speculation had been brewing from the summer months, and there was a threat made by GM Chris Drury that he’d put Trouba on waivers if he didn’t agree to one of the trade destinations the Rangers’ were presented. Needless to say, Trouba wasn’t very happy with how things played out. “It made it difficult to play kind of with that hanging over everything. The result is the result. I’m happy with moving forward, but I’m not overly thrilled with how it went down,” Trouba told Mollie Walker of the New York Post. “In my opinion, things could’ve been handled better. I’m not blaming anybody or anything, just kind of how it happened I thought was kind of unfortunate.”
This was the third captain in a row the Rangers have traded in-season.

Sabres GM admits Buffalo’s not a preferred location

It’s been a tough couple of weeks for the Sabres, who are 3-5-2 in their last 10 games. Last Friday, GM Kevyn Adams took things from bad to worse, after making some baffling comments at a press conference.
Adams made a case for Buffalo having a tough time keeping up with certain teams on the free-agent and trade market because Buffalo doesn’t have palm trees and beaches. “We’re not a destination city right now,” Adams explained at a press conference Friday. “Where you’re going to be able to go out and [unrestricted free agents] that are key guys.”
“I’m not happy with where we’re at, but we’re not going to panic. We’re not going to overreact. We’re not going to make a knee-jerk decision or reactionary trade that sets us back. We have to look at things that will help improve our team and we’ll act on them.”
The Sabres are 11-13-3 entering the week and are on track to miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a 14th consecutive season.

Quick hits from around the league:

  • Canucks’ goaltender Thatcher Demko made his return to the team last weekend. Demko has not played yet this season, having been sidelined with a knee injury that kept him out of action for the Canucks’ final 12 games of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, plus the first 24 games of the new campaign.
  • Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli stated that Zach Hyman of the Edmonton Oilers, Mark Scheifele of the Winnipeg Jets and Mackenzie Weegar of the Calgary Flames were among the last cuts for Team Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off team, and all three could eventually make the team as injury replacements.
  • Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin made NHL history by signing an eight-year $92-million contract, the largest ever signed by a goaltender.
  • Chicago Blackhawks fired their head coach Luke Richardson and named Anders Sorensen as his replacement. Sorensen comes up the ranks from the AHL and becomes the first Swedish-born head coach in NHL history.
  • Newly acquired goaltender Scott Wedgewood has been solid for the Colorado Avalanche, who desperately need better goaltending. Wedgewood has posted a 2-1-0 record, with a 1.44 goals against average and a .951 save percentage.
  • Heading into Monday’s action, Carolina Hurricanes forward Martin Necas has 41 points and is currently leading the league.
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