Breaking down Rangers big trades 1 month after dealing captain, former No. 2 overall pick

Amid a brutal stretch of play, the New York Rangers shook up their roster in December with a pair of major trades. The Rangers dealt their captain, defenseman Jacob Trouba, to the Anaheim Ducks on Dec. 6 for defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a fourth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
Twelve days later, they shipped forward Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken for defenseman Will Borgen and two more picks in the 2025 draft.
All four players are settled into their new locales now. So, here’s a look at how each has fared after a month with his new team.
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Rangers trade Jacob Trouba to Ducks for Urho Vaakanainen

What they’ve done
It’s hard to believe that just three seasons ago, Trouba was on his way to an 11-goal, 39-point season with the Rangers. His offense dropped off in each of the next two-plus seasons with the Rangers, and he’s not generating much in Anaheim.
Trouba had six points, all assists, in 24 games with the Rangers before the trade and was minus-3 with 22 penalty minutes while averaging 20.00 of ice time. In 19 games with Anaheim, he’s still looking for his first goal of the season, has three assists, eight penalty minutes and is minus-2. The Ducks are giving him an average of 21:01 time on ice. He played 21:03, had an assist and was plus-2 on Thursday night in Anaheim’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“I’m getting more comfortable around the group,” Trouba told the Winnipeg Free Press earlier this month. “Obviously it takes more than a couple of days to kind of get fully settled in.”
But Trouba’s biggest stock in trade is his physical game, and those numbers have gone up since he joined the Ducks. In his 24 games with the Rangers, Trouba was credited with 39 hits (4.87 per 60 minutes) and 68 blocked shots (8.09/60, first on the team). In 20 games with the Ducks, he has 52 hits (7.42/60) and 62 blocked shots (8.85/60, first on the team). His combined total of 130 blocks is the most in the NHL.
However, Trouba’s arrival hasn’t done much for the Ducks’ success on the ice, one way or another. They were 10-12-3 (.460 points percentage) before the trade and 8-9-3 (.475) with him in the lineup. He’s the same player in Anaheim that he was with New York; so far, the Ducks have been the same team with him that they were before he arrived.

Vaakanainen, the No. 18 overall pick in the 2017 draft by the Boston Bruins, has been plagued by injuries throughout his career. He missed most of the first two months of this season with injuries and had one assist in five games with the Ducks before the trade.
The 25-year-old made his debut with the Rangers on Dec. 17 against the Nashville Predators and has been a regular on the blue line since, usually in a bottom-pair role. He has two assists in 14 games and averaged 15:00 TOI (1:08 on the penalty kill), up from 13:36 per game with Anaheim. The Rangers were 15-14-1 (.517) before he arrived and are 6-6-2 (.500) with him in the lineup.
The verdict
The biggest difference for the Rangers since the trade is salary cap-wise. The Ducks took all of Trouba’s $8 million cap hit for the rest of this season and 2025-26, giving the Rangers some much-needed cap space – most of which they quickly used to sign goaltender Igor Shesterkin to an eight-year, $92 million contract. Trouba has brought a physical presence to Anaheim, but his offensive game – already in decline — has all but disappeared.
Vaakanainen has never become the player he was expected to be when drafted eight years ago. He gives the Rangers a useful third-pair body on the blue line. But anyone who has scored one goal in 154 NHL games isn’t being counted on for his offense. Trouba gets more ice time and is more physical; Vaakanainen is cheaper and a competent bottom-pair guy.
Rangers trade Kaapo Kakko to Kraken for Will Borgen

Kakko never became what the Rangers were expecting him to be when they selected him with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 draft. He’s the kind of player who a team would likely have been happy with if he’d been selected No. 22, but more is expected for the second player chosen in any draft.
Skating has never been Kakko’s strong suit, and he never appeared to find a niche with the Rangers. The closest he came was as a third-liner in 2022-23 (career highs of 18 goals and 40 points) and the first few weeks of this season, when he, Filip Chytil and Will Cuylle formed perhaps the best third line in the NHL.
But things went downhill for Kakko and the Rangers after mid-November. He had one goal and two assists in 13 games after Nov. 18, was a healthy scratch on Dec. 15 and finally sent to Seattle three days later. Kakko had 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in 30 games before the trade, averaged just 13:17 of ice time per game and saw limited power-play time (58 seconds a game).
Things have perked up for the 23-year-old in the Pacific Northwest.
Kakko matched his goal total with the Rangers his first 12 games with Seattle. He scored twice in the third period of the Kraken’s 6-2 road win against the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 11 and was named the game’s First Star.
“He’s got some different attributes than a lot of us don’t have,” coach Dan Bylsma said after the win. “… Adding that presence, adding that ability, the big body (6-foot-1, 215 pounds) and the ability to hold on to pucks has made that line (with Matty Beniers and Jaden Schwartz) and made our team all that much better.”

Kakko had an empty-netter in Seattle’s 4-2 road win against the Pittsburgh Penguins and a primary assist in a 2-1 loss to the Jets in Winnipeg on Thursday, giving him 10 points (four goals, six assists) in 13 games since the trade. He has a four-game point streak. His average time on ice has jumped more than 3:00 per game, to 16:34, and he’s regularly used in a top-six role — often on the first line.
But his arrival hasn’t helped the Kraken in the standings: Seattle was 15-16-2 (.485) before the trade but is just 4-8-1 (.346) since his arrival, including the loss at Winnipeg. To be fair, the Kraken struggled while an injury sidelined starting goaltender Joey Daccord; backup Philipp Grubauer has lost all five of his starts this month and was hooked in each of the past two.
Borgen has given the Rangers a useful but not spectacular right-handed shot on the blue line. He has one goal and one assist in 13 games with the Rangers – the same offensive numbers he had in 30 games with the Kraken, though he was minus-13 with them and is even with New York. Like Kakko, he’s seeing a lot more ice time since the trade (18:40, up from 15:12 with Seattle). He’s also become a regular on the second penalty-killing unit (1:12 per game).
However, Borgen has had little impact on the Blueshirts’ won-lost record; the Rangers were 15-15-1 before the trade and are 6-5-2 since his arrival.
The verdict
The Rangers have every reason to be content with Borgen; he’s fit in well (usually on the second pairing and penalty kill). Like Vaakanainen, who he’s sometimes partnered with, the 28-year-old focuses on keeping opponents away from the net and leaves the offense to players such as Adam Fox. He’s playing for a contract, which gives him some added incentive.
Kakko was dealt after it became obvious that he needed a change of scenery. Early indications are that the Kraken, now in their fourth season since entering the NHL in the fall of 2021, might be a good fit — he’s not on a team that entered the season with Stanley Cup expectations, and he’ll get more and better ice time in his new home. It may take a while longer, but don’t be surprised if Kakko emerges as a 20-goal, 50-point player on a regular basis.
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