Jacob Trouba feeling the pain after Winnipeg trade demand

There’s a scene in “The Dark Knight” when a Wayne Enterprises corporate lackey informs Morgan Freeman’s Lucius Fox that he’s figured out that Bruce Wayne is, in fact, Batman.

“Let me get this straight,” Fox responds, “you think that your client, one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the world, is secretly a vigilante, who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands, and your plan is to blackmail this person?”

Whenever we see updates on Jacob Trouba’s trade demand and contract dispute with the Winnipeg Jets, we read a slight variation of that denouncement:

“Let us get this straight … you know the Winnipeg Jets hold all the cards insofar as your NHL future goes as a restricted free agent, and that you have several years before unrestricted free agency, and every moment you spend outside the lineup hurts your earning power, and your plan is to stay away and demand a trade?”

“Good luck…”

Trouba remained at home during the Jets’ first two games, both showing promise that this young team could contend this season. He’s in limbo, a forgotten player. And Winnipeg Free Press columnist Paul Wiecek waylaid him:

The delusion — shared by Trouba, his agent and a handful of media sycophants — Jets management was simply going to roll over in the face of Trouba’s trade demand and ship him off for whatever they could get was revealed Thursday to be exactly what it always was: delusional.

Jacob Trouba isn’t going anywhere until the Jets get an offer they cannot refuse — and that moment never seemed further away than it did this week as hockey got underway across North America. That is bad news for Trouba, who is coming to stark terms with the serious consequences of a trade demand that has never looked more reckless.

So where are we with Trouba and his trade demand? The Ottawa Sun reports:

You can criticize Cheveldayoff for being slow to pull in the trigger in the past but in this case he has every right to make Trouba wait. Evander Kane told The Hockey News after he got dealt by the Jets to Buffalo last summer he asked for a trade in every off-season but Winnipeg didn’t do it until the time was right. That same approach will be used here if the Jets are going to get the kind of return they want for Trouba, who is skating near his Michigan home. The Jets have lots of assets on defence so there is no hurry.

“(Cheveldayoff) doesn’t have the pressure of ownership saying, ‘We’ve gotta get a player’. The ownership in Winnipeg is solidly behind him, the city is behind him and if you look at their track record they’ve made (players) wait before,” said another league-insider.

The Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Kings and Arizona Coyotes have had varying degrees of tire-kicking on Trouba. Some of these teams have the kinds of young defensemen the Jets might consider taking back in a trade.

And still … nothing.

Elliotte Friedman said on Sportsnet on Saturday night that the Jets are content to make him wait, and in the process put the screws to him.

“There’s a real sense that want him to feel a bit of … I don’t know if ‘pain’ is the right word, but you’re asking out, so we’re going to make you wait,” he said.

He also said something interesting about the Jets and players wanting to play in Winnipeg.

“I think the Jets worry sometimes that players don’t want to play there. Dustin Byfuglien signed for five years, Blake Wheeler signed for six years, Mark Scheifele signed for six years. They’ve proven that good players want to stay,” he said. “If someone didn’t want to date me, I’d say thanks, good night and move on.”

But what if she’s a 22-year-old right-shot defenseman, Elliotte!?

We’ve seen this movie before with agent Kurt Overhardt. Kyle Turris became a restricted free agent in July 2011. He wanted a large contract, but more than that he wanted out. He ended up signing a two-year bridge contract on Nov. 22 and then was traded on Dec. 17, 2011.

It’s not out of the question the same thing plays out with Trouba.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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