Entering Year 2 as Rangers captain, Jacob Trouba continuing to grow as a leader
Over the summer, Jacob Trouba continued his leadership education to prep for Year 2 of his Rangers captaincy. Among other things, he played golf and shared meals with a hedge fund manager and also with a financier at Morgan Stanley, picking their brains on the ways they lead in their industries.
“Those are people who have experiences that I don’t have,” Trouba said after a recent practice. “I’m trying to learn something from other people’s experiences and take something from those conversations. They’ve all had different leadership experiences in their businesses and a lot of that transfers to sports – more than I think people will think.
“Whether you’re leading a company or a locker room, people respond to the same type of things. How you treat people doesn’t really change whether you’re a hockey player or a CEO. You’ve still got to treat people the right way and understand that you don’t know everything. Lean on the people around you.”
It’s all part of Trouba’s desire to grow in his crucial role as the captain of an Original Six franchise that has high expectations. Trouba learned from last season and perhaps delivered the team’s most public leadership moment of the season with his famed “helmet throw” last December.
The 29-year-old wants to keep “moving up, overall” as a leader, he said. “Just kind of continue to grow and evolve. It’s never a straight line. How you maneuver out of challenges is how you keep climbing upwards.”
Trouba was named the 28th captain in Rangers history the summer before the 2022-23 season and was the first to wear the “C” since Ryan McDonagh in 2017-18. In Year 1, Trouba “handled it great,” according to teammate K’Andre Miller, his defensive partner.
“The way he carries himself is obviously really big and obviously being a captain in New York, it can't be easy,” Miller said. “I think he has a great mindset about it. He comes into work every day to get better and push his teammates to get better, too.
“He holds himself and holds his teammates to a certain standard that everybody follows and respects. I think that's what you want out of your leader.”
Blake Wheeler, who joined the Rangers before this season, was the captain of the Winnipeg Jets for part of the time Trouba played there, and he was eager to see what Captain Trouba looked like when he arrived.
“The coolest thing for me is watching how the other guys are around him, how everyone treats him and you can just tell the amount of respect that everyone in the room has for him,” Wheeler said. “That tells you everything you need to know.
“I think people don’t understand what it’s like to carry that burden and all the things you have to deal with, the added pressure and some tedious stuff. Sometimes guys don’t really understand. It (the captaincy) definitely fits him.”
A first-year captain might endure uncertainty, Wheeler said. “You don’t know how you’re going to do or how you’re going to be, so after having a year under your belt, there’s a level of confidence now,” Wheeler added. “He definitely seems at ease in the role.”
Trouba has had numerous conversations with Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette as the Rangers and their new coach get used to working together. “Our conversations have been excellent,” Laviolette said. “This is a kid who will do anything for the team. He’ll hit. He’ll fight. He’ll block shots. He’ll contribute offense. And, inside the room, he has the respect there.”
Trouba led the Rangers in both hits (218) and blocked shots (196) last year and has always been a physical player. He’s perceived as a villain of sorts in some opposing cities, thanks to his thunderous checking, and he’s drawn opponents’ ire for hits, too.
Much was made of Trouba’s “helmet throw” last Dec. 3. The Rangers, stuck in an early-season malaise, needed a spark. They were losing to the Chicago Blackhawks when Trouba, who did not play great early in the season, hit Andreas Athanasiou in open ice. The check, deemed legal, nonetheless led to several fights -- including Trouba versus Chicago captain Jonathan Toews.
On his way off the ice for the rest of the period, Trouba screamed at the Ranger bench and angrily threw his helmet. The Blueshirts lost that night to fall to 11-10-5. But they won their next seven and finished the regular season on a 36-12-8 run.
After the loss to Chicago, Trouba told reporters the Rangers needed more will, more emotion. His actions on the ice that night evolved into a snippet of Rangers lore – the spur that got a talented team going. A clip of it was even part of the hype video on the scoreboard at Madison Square Garden during the preseason, designed to fire up the crowd.
“It was a flat time during our season,” Miller recalled. “I don’t think, really, we were playing to the standard that we knew we could and he was a great person to step up and say something about it. Obviously, you need your captain to do things like that every once in a while.
“I think it just shows how we view Troubs in this room. Everybody looks up to him in that sense. And when he talks, people listen, people follow him and he’s usually leading us in the right direction. He makes it pretty easy.”
Trouba doesn’t agree that the helmet toss was some big reveal of his leadership chops. “That was just like a heat-of-the-moment thing, not pre-planned,” he said.
“I don’t really look at it as some big moment for me. It just kind of happened and was kind of the ups and downs of the season. That was at a low moment for us, for sure.
“I think things that happen inside the room, that people don’t know about or find out about, are the moments I look back on, and whether I want to do them differently or better. I was happy with how those went (last year). A lot of the stuff you see on the ice is emotion, but the well-thought-out conversations happen behind closed doors.”
Does Trouba mind if the public views the helmet throw as a leadership moment? “I don't care,” he said, grinning. “I can't control it.”
He’s more interested in what he can control. One of those things is this: “Being genuine,” he said. “I think people can see through stuff that’s not genuine and know when you’re being fake or trying to put up a front. You’ve got to be yourself.
“Last year is over. You built some through last year, but you’ve got to continue building and continue trying to become a better leader.”
When Trouba was 13 years old, he wrote in a notebook that he one day wanted to be named captain of an NHL team. What would a 13-year-old Trouba say to the grown-up one, who has done exactly that?
“I thought about that when it happened,” Trouba said. “I don’t know what 13-year-old me would say at this point.
“I think that I’m living the dream, I guess, that I always wanted to live. It’s been a fun journey. I’m trying to enjoy the ride while I’m on it.”
