Rumors swirl that Rangers are working on trading captain Jacob Trouba to Red Wings

LAS VEGAS — For the Rangers, who are focused on winning the Stanley Cup, the second day of the NHL Draft didn’t seem like the primary focus of president and general manager Chris Drury.

All day Saturday, as the Rangers waited at James Dolan’s spectacular Sphere to make their selections, rumors were swirling that Drury was working on completing a huge trade that would ship captain Jacob Trouba out of New York. A report in the New York Post said Drury was negotiating with Trouba’s hometown Detroit Red Wings, and a TV report suggested the trade might happen at some point Saturday.

But when the announcement of a Rangers trade came, during the fourth round, the trade did not involve Trouba. It was merely an announcement that they had made a deal that sent the Nashville Predators the Rangers’ fourth-round pick (No. 127 overall), plus a seventh-rounder in 2026, to move up to No. 119, where they took 6-1, 184-pound center Raoul Boilard from Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.

“I’m an offensive center,’’ said Boilard, who is from Sherbrooke, Quebec. “I’ve got some offensive tools. I can make plays. Good playmaker, good on faceoffs, and I’ll continue to develop and be a two-way center.’’

“He’s a smart two-way forward,’’ Rangers director of player personnel and amateur scouting John Lilley said of Boilard, who had 22 goals and 62 points in 68 games this season. “A natural centerman [who] had a good season, just under a point a game, [and] had a good prospects game. Just someone we really valued.’’

The Rangers, who did not have selections in the second, third or seventh rounds, next took Nathan Aspinall, a 6-6 forward from Flint of the Ontario Hockey League, in the fifth round (159th overall) and 6-foot, 181-pound forward Rico Gredig of Switzerland in the sixth round (191st overall).

But they left Las Vegas without announcing any trades involving Trouba or forward Kaapo Kakko, who also is believed to be on his way out the door this summer.

The Athletic reported Thursday that Drury had asked Trouba, who struggled through a disappointing postseason this spring, to provide his 15-team no-trade list, which goes into effect Monday. The natural speculation is that Detroit, which has room under the salary cap and is on the rise after an extended rebuilding period, would be interested and would be a good landing spot for the 30-year-old defenseman, who carries an $8 million cap hit after signing a seven-year, $56 million contract after the Rangers acquired him from Winnipeg in 2019.

Moving Trouba, who had full no-move protection for the first five years but only partial no-trade protection for the final two, would open up cap space for the Rangers just in time for the start of the free-agent signing period Monday. Even if the Rangers were forced to retain some of his salary to make a move happen, they still would gain precious cap space that would aid in Drury’s attempts to make a splash in free agency.

With no blockbuster trade to announce, the Rangers were left to talk about the four players they picked up in the draft, none of whom will be on their roster next season.

First-round pick Eric “E.J.’’ Emery, a 6-3, 183-pound defenseman from the U.S. National Team Development Program, whom the Rangers took Friday night, is headed to the University of North Dakota in the fall. An athletic stay-at-home defenseman, he needs to add some weight to his slender frame, get stronger and develop further, according to Lilley.

Lilley was asked if seeing the success this season of middle- and late-round picks such as Matt Rempe and Adam Edstrom makes him think the players the Rangers took on Day 2 of this draft will contribute to the team someday.

“Yeah, those guys have done a great job,’’ he said of Rempe and Edstrom. “They were drafted . . . later, middle, late-round type of guys with potential. Credit to those players. They’ve put the time in, working to make themselves a big part of our organization. And now these players we’ve drafted [Saturday] have the same opportunity.

“But it’s like I say every development camp or whatever: It’s up to them. Everything from now moving forward is. The ball is in their court as to what work they put in.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.