Jacob Trouba is captain of the best team in the NHL this season, the New York Rangers, one of the oldest franchises in hockey in one of the world’s greatest sports towns.
The big-hitting American defenseman is also an artist, philanthropist, advocate and, most recently, an actor in a commercial urging early cancer detection. He might be the most interesting man in hockey.
Trouba asked for a trade from Winnipeg to a team in the U.S. so his then-fiancée could pursue her medical career. He was the only player to agree to have his photo taken getting the COVID-19 vaccine, speaks to Fortune 500 CEOs to get advice about leadership, paints on the side, helps run an epilepsy art program and is the face of a new Hockey Fights Cancer campaign launching just in time for the playoffs.
He is, of course, highly focused on helping the Rangers hoist the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1994, the year he was born. He just has other things going on. A lot of them.
“I’m a little different, probably in a lot of those ways, but that’s just kind of how I’m wired,” Trouba said. “There’s more to the game of hockey. I think there’s experiences that you can bring in to help the team, to help you become a better player.”
Trouba’s mother, Kristy, who co-starred in the AstraZeneca “ Get Body Checked Against Cancer ” ad, said she encouraged Jacob as a kid to go to friends’ houses and play video games, lamenting the school dances, football games and spring break trips he sacrificed as a teenager in the name of hockey.
“Jacob would go out in the garage and shoot pucks against the hockey tarp by himself all the time,” Kristy Trouba said. “He’s just very dedicated. When he puts his mind to do something, he’s going to give it the absolute best that he has.”
On the ice, no one in the league blocked more shots on average this season than Trouba, who isn’t even tops on his team in hits but is known for big, crushing, clean open-ice body checks that have otherwise largely disappeared from the sport at its highest level.
“It’s not really something I set my mind to go out and do,” Trouba said. “It’s just something that, if it presents itself, to make the hit. It’s always been a part of my game since I was a kid, really. It’s a part of my game. It’s a big part of the game in general.”
Trouba being known for body checks and his work in the community made him the logical…
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