8 PM: Trocheck has a no-move clause in the first three years of his contract and then a limited no-trade clause in years 4-7.
7:46 PM: Trocheck spoke on Sportsnet earlier today and said:
- Why the New York Rangers, “It was just the right fit. We had gone over a few a the teams that we thought might need a second line center after the year and New York was one of the teams we looked at that might be, potentially, the best fit. Obviously I had Gallant in Florida, he was my coach down there and I loved him whenever he was there with me and we had a special relationship and he was part of the reason that I made the decision to go to New York. Just from an overall fit standpoint, the team is obviously fantastic, they had a great year last year and they had a hole at 2C and that was basically it.”
- Did Gallant call you, “I actually haven’t talked to Turk yet, I’ll give him a call shortly after this.”
- How much did you learn about the Rangers playing them in the playoffs, “We played against them a bunch. When I first got traded to Carolina we ended up playing them in the bubble and they kind of had formed a little bit of a rivalry with Carolina prior to that and over the last two years played against them a bunch. They are a really fast team, a lot of firepower up front, a lot of poise on the defensive side and Shesterkin is one of the best goalies in the league and he was extremely hard to play against him and he made it really difficult in the playoffs. They got a great team.”
2:46 PM: The Rangers have confirmed Trocheck’s seven-year deal.
12:26 PM: Emily Kaplan says on ESPN that the Rangers are signing Vincent Trocheck to a seven-year deal.
He will have a cap hit of $5.625 million. (TSN)
Trocheck, 29, is 5-10, 186 and had 21 goals and 30 assists in 81 games last season.
Trochek played for Gerard Gallant in Florida.
Kaplan said on ESPN that Trocheck was “looking for a lot of money and felt like he earned it this year in Carolina and I think he’s going to get it.”
Brian Boucher said on ESPN that Trocheck brings “competitiveness” and it’s a “good pickup” for the Rangers.”
Ray Ferraro said on TSN that Trocheck is someone that “needs the puck on his stick a lot more than Strome did, so if you think Trocheck goes into that two hole seamlessly with Panarin…well, Panarin needs the puck. Strome did a lot of the unheralded, dirty, boring stuff away from the play. Trocheck is a darter, he plays a different style.”
Adam Rotter: Trocheck is a good player, but this is a really big contract. The Rangers are certainly familiar with Trocheck after playing him in the playoffs and he was a good player for parts of that series, it’s just that seven-years is a lot. If you want the player and feel he’s the best fit then you do it and clearly Chris Drury and the Rangers felt that Trocheck is a better fit than Ryan Strome, that Nazem Kadri wouldn’t fit under the cap and Andrew Copp deciding that he wanted to go home to Detroit more than anything.
Trocheck is can be physical, he’s quick, can score and help on the forecheck. He will have to fit with Artemi Panarin but he should be skilled and quick enough to do that. The cap hit is manageable and fair for a player like him and if you think he’s going to help you win in the next 2-3-4 years then you don’t worry about years 5-6-7 now. By the time his play might fall off or his contract becomes a burden the salary cap should be rising and that will make it easier to hide, bury or buyout. What this contract does is also give the Rangers cap certainty on how much their second line center is going to cost. They couldn’t get that cap certainty if they made a trade for JT Miller, Pierre-Luc Dubois or Mark Scheifele. Miller will be a UFA next summer and Dubois and Scheifele the year after that. Those three might be better players but they would cost more on the cap and cost the Rangers in the players/picks/prospects they were going to need to give up. We don’t know all the particulars of the contract yet with the salary breakdown and no-move protection, so maybe the Rangers will have flexibility to move him or buy him out without huge penalties down the line, but ultimately this was the move the Rangers decided to make. He’s going to have a lot of pressure on him in that role, because of his contract and because of Panarin, but he’s the player that the Rangers have tied themselves to.