GREENBURGH, NY – Jacob Trouba will not play for the New York Rangers against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday due to roster management reasons, and his future with the team is unclear.

The Rangers captain could be traded before the game against the Penguins at Madison Square Garden (7:30 p.m. ET; HULU, ESPN+, TVAS-D, SNW, SNO, SNE). Coach Peter Laviolette said Friday that the team decided to go in a different direction.

Trouba has one season left on his seven-year, $56 million ($8 million average annual value) contract that he signed with the Rangers as a restricted free agent on July 19, 2019, after being traded from the Winnipeg Jets one season left.

The Rangers recalled Victor Mancini from Hartford of the American Hockey League on Friday. He is expected to play against the Penguins.

“I think our team needs some direction,” Laviolette said. “We’re not playing well at the moment. I think if you don’t have the success you want, you have to go in a different direction. That was the decision.”

New York (13-10-1) has a 1-6-0 record in its last seven games, including a 5-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Monday when Trouba played 16:1 in what could be the last of his 364 minutes. 45 played games with the Rangers.

He played a season-low 13:37 in the 4-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.

Laviolette said he and general manager Chris Drury were “in common spirit” about the direction of the team and the decision made with Trouba.

“It’s not meant to be a message (to the rest of the team),” Laviolette said. “I think everyone understands where we have been in the last month and how we have played. We can’t continue on this path or we’ll be eliminated from the playoffs. The best thing is that we have to find a way to get us back up the table and we haven’t played well. I didn’t see it that way, but it’s a change.”

Trouba, 30, has been captain of the Rangers since the start of the 2022/23 season. This is his sixth season with New York after playing his first six years with Winnipeg.

He helped the Rangers reach the Eastern Conference Finals twice in the last three seasons. Trouba has six points (all assists) in 24 games this season and is averaging 20:00 ice time per game.

However, New York has fallen on hard times, allowing 4.14 goals per game and a 2.14 scoring average over the last seven games, the second-worst in the NHL during that span.

“I mean, I can’t say it’s not hard, especially when you come in and prepare for a game and find out about it,” Rangers center Mika Zibanejad said. “I don’t know what the book says about how to deal with these things and what to do, but until there is more information, we have to try to focus on the game tonight. It’s a big deal for us. We must achieve a victory. We’ll worry about it later.”