Rangers captain had broken ankle that may have limited him
Locker room clear-out day after a team is eliminated from the playoffs is the time of year when you learn just how injured every NHL player was during the postseason.
That was the case for the New York Rangers on Tuesday when defenseman (and captain) Jacob Trouba revealed that he suffered a broken ankle during the season and continued to play on it.
Trouba said a “kidney bean sized chunk” came off of a bone. He could still walk on it because it was not a weight-bearing bone. He conceded that skating and turning were difficult and that it limited him at times after his return.
The question is whether or not this impacted him in the playoffs and contributed to his subpar playoff performance.
Trouba emphasized that he was cleared to play in the playoffs and that it was not limiting him at that point, but there was something off with his performance. Even if his performance was only limited in the regular season, there has to be a serious discussion here about the risk vs. reward.
The “hockey mind” will look at this and praise Trouba for being a warrior and willing to play through pain to be there for his team.
The problem with that mindset — which is overly prevalent in hockey — is that it isn’t always for the good of the team. The harsh reality is that Trouba had a dreadful postseason and was one of the Rangers’ least effective players. The revelation that he had a broken ankle as recently as March is certainly relevant to analyzing that performance.
At some point, both Trouba and the Rangers have to be willing to recognize that, acknowledge the limitations he might have been experiencing and be willing to step aside for a healthier player to get a spot in the lineup.
Players themselves might not be willing to do that. But the organization has to ask itself its primary objective — winning a championship or a player proving their toughness to everybody. The Rangers did not seem willing to do that.
It might all be a non-issue if Trouba gave them quality minutes and played effective hockey in the playoffs. He was not, and he was the common denominator in a lot of goals against in big situations.
A 100 percent Zac Jones (who spent the entire postseason as a healthy scratch) might have been more impactful than a limited Trouba. Given how narrow the gap was in their series against the Florida Panthers, that might have helped.
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