From lame duck to Anaheim Duck.

Jacob Trouba is captain of the New York Rangers no more, reportedly heading to Anaheim in return for a depth defenseman in Urho Vaakanainen and a fourth-round draft pick, per TSN's Pierre LeBrun.

Teams rarely make seismic changes in early December, and when they do, it's usually the fallout from something truly rotten.

In New York, the rot was a generally poor season highlighted by six losses in the last seven games. Though there were questions of locker room cohesion and complacency all over the place, the elephant in the room was Trouba, who rejected a trade over the summer and seemed resigned to a departure from New York.

The Rangers ripped off the Band-Aid on Friday. Let's take a look at what this trade means for both New York and Anaheim and grade this transaction for each.

New York Rangers

We're going to need more space to dedicate a fair analysis of what went wrong for Jacob Trouba in New York. The short version is that his game completely plummeted and the Rangers miscast him as a shutdown defenseman.

Trouba may throw the occasional monster hit, but his footwork, decision-making and positioning did not work well to someone expected to play a lot of minutes. Maybe he can rediscover his identity in Anaheim. That's for the Ducks to find out. It was never going to happen in New York.

And as his limitations on the ice led to problems off the ice, the Rangers are not only moving on from an unproductive player, but also one at the center of consternation within the organization.

The most important aspect of this trade for the Rangers is that Anaheim is taking on all $8 million of his cap hit through 2026 without dumping a contract back to the Rangers. That would have seemed highly unlikely just this past summer.

Even ignoring the return value, New York general manager Chris Drury has freed up a tantalizing amount of cap space to fundamentally alter the identity of this team either at the 2025 trade deadline or during the offseason.

That being said, this is hardly a pure cap dump for the Rangers.

Urho Vaakanainen, 25, has the potential to be the type of cheap, no-frills depth the Rangers badly need on the third defensive pairing. The 2017 first-round pick of the Boston Bruins had his career derailed by injuries, this season included, but he has played steady hockey in Anaheim in an otherwise unsteady environment. He's 6'2" and skates well, and has a proven track record of being able to advance pucks out of the defensive zone.

The Rangers defense has been painfully slow in recent years, and a switch from Trouba to Vaakanainen represents, primarily, a notable improvement in that area. The Finnish lefty has a $1.1 million cap hit and will be a restricted free agent this summer.

If all goes well, he could be a frugal piece to the puzzle in New York beyond this season. A fourth-round pick is also a welcomed addition for a team that has traded the bulk of its middle-round selections the last few seasons.

Ultimately, though, this trade is about disengaging from a toxic situation in the short-term and setting the scene for a fundamental overhaul of the defense that is soon to come.

There are numerous ways the Rangers can build a team with that extra cash Trouba frees up, and the vast majority of those scenarios provide more value than what the 30-year-old former captain has given the team the last two seasons.

Grade: A+

Anaheim Ducks

The risk involved is relatively low for Anaheim. The Ducks are overflowing with exciting young defensemen. Most notably Pavel Mintyukov, Olen Zellweger and Stian Solberg. Vaakanainen is small potatoes and was likely an eventual sacrifice to make way for an impact NHL defenseman one way or another.

A fourth-round pick won't be missed by a team that has drafted 18 players in the top three rounds of the last three NHL drafts. For a young team still trying to find its wings, it makes sense that GM Pat Verbeek wants to add some veteran presence to his back end.

One can also see why they pounced on Trouba, given the circumstances. They were unable to make a big splash over the summer. Now a big name becomes available in December in an unusual circumstance and is willing to waive his no-trade clause to join them.

And even if Trouba turns into a total bust, what's the real harm done? They still have more cap space than they know what to do with. The deal expires next season, and they can probably trade him beforehand if necessary.

Maybe a mental reset is what Trouba needs. Compared to the high stakes of New York trying to win a Cup, he'll be in the calmer waters of Anaheim where every loss isn't critically analyzed.

There was a time when Trouba was a 50-point defenseman in the NHL. That's unlikely now, but maybe Anaheim casts him in a sheltered offensive role and he can become a top-four defenseman again.

However, if the idea is that this move will be what finally gets the Ducks out the quicksand and in a forward trajectory for the first time since they tore it all down some seasons ago, it's hard to see how that works out. There's a reason the Rangers traded their own captain, and while the media circus played a big role, it was primarily about his rapid decline in performances on the ice.

Most likely, the Ducks are dramatically overpaying a player well past his prime. In that sense, he's not so much different than some others on his new team.

Grade: D+

Salary-cap information via PuckPedia.