Rangers captain offers stunning revelation about injured ankle
When Jacob Trouba missed four weeks in March with a lower-body injury and then struggled with his game upon returning to the lineup, the New York Rangers captain clearly had a good excuse.
Trouba told reporters at break-up day Tuesday that he broke his ankle in early March, was cleared to return and it got better as the playoffs progressed.
But that wasn’t all of it.
Trouba said that a “kidney-sized bean chunk” of his ankle “came off.”
That was a stunning revelation, certainly much more unexpected than Adam Fox confirming that he played the final two rounds of the postseason on an injured knee that was reaggravated on a Nick Jensen knee-on-knee hit in Game 4 of the first round against the Washington Capitals.
No, this was something else altogether.
Related: Emily Kaplan says Rangers had ‘too many passengers’ in playoff loss to Panthers
Jacob Trouba had ups, down after breaking ankle late in season for Rangers
Trouba was minus-5 his first two games back in the lineup against the Arizona Coyotes and Pittsburgh Penguins, following the injury. Eventually, he was shifted to the third defense pair alongside Erik Gustafsson, which is how the Rangers started the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
He did move back up with K’Andre Miller midway through the postseason before ending up back with Gustafsson.
It was an uneven performance in the postseason for Trouba, not surprising considering this news. He played all 16 games and was third among all Rangers defensemen, averaging 20:59 in ice time. He led the Rangers by a wide margin with 72 blocked shots and was second behind Vincent Trocheck with 60 hits.
Trouba also led New York with 11 minor penalties and 22 penalty minutes. He had three assists in the Eastern Conference Final against the Florida Panthers and scored a shorthanded goal in Game 5 against the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round, finishing with one goal and six assists.
“You feel fine, but then you put a skate on and you start pushing at different angles and it does not feel good,” Trouba explained.
Outside of the Trouba and Fox revelations, there two other bits of injury news for the Rangers. Jimmy Vesey said he separated his shoulder on a hit by Florida’s Ryan Lomberg in Game 2 of the conference final. Vesey said he did not require offseason surgery for the shoulder.
And Ryan Lindgren said that he cracked a rib in Game 6 against the Hurricanes. Lindgren did not miss a single playoff game for the Rangers.
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