It was always an option, but it often seemed unlikely. Vincent Trocheck is staying put with Chris Drury and the New York Rangers, as the NHL trade deadline has gone by and a trade never went through. On that note, Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin dropped a blunt admission.
Along with the decision to keep their veteran center, the Rangers also made their final stance clear on several of Trocheck’s teammates who had been in the NHL rumor mill. Still, it appears New York set its price and no one met it. At the end of the day, the Rangers were in no hurry to move Trocheck and will continue to explore their options.
However, from a non–New Yorker perspective, much can be criticized about the Blueshirts’ stance, and that is exactly how Guerin sees things from his office in the Twin Cities. Guerin and the Wild are all in. Minnesota wants to take its name off the list of NHL teams that have never won the Stanley Cup, and its current roster may give it its best shot in a very long time.
“I thought winning gold with Chris Drury would have gotten me a little bit of a discount, but he wasn’t in that mood,” Guerin confessed in dialogue with Emily Kaplan of ESPN.
Rangers held their ground
Guerin’s comment only confirms what most reports suggested. New York knew its worth and, in a buyer’s market, set its asking price for Trocheck in stone. Aside from Trocheck, not many bona fide top-six centers were available, so the Rangers knew they had a chip every team would be after.
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However, they weren’t going to have any of the lowball pursuits. Thus, one by one, suitors were crossed off the list, as no one brought enough to the table for the Rangers to accept.
What’s next for Rangers?
Now, the Rangers will keep Trocheck in town for the remainder of the 2025–26 NHL season. More likely than not, the Blueshirts will return to the market with Trocheck in the offseason. By then, though, who knows whether his price will go up or down.
One thing New York is encouraged by is the fact that Trocheck’s modified no-trade clause (M-NTC) will be more navigable, going from a 12-team veto list to a 10-team no-trade list. While two organizations may seem small on paper, perhaps one of them could become the trade partner the Blueshirts have been searching for a while.
