2025 Rangers Report Card: Vincent Trocheck

This post is part of an ongoing series of Rangers Report Cards, grading the performance of each member of the 2024-25 New York Rangers. To view more report cards in this series, go here.

Expectations

So here’s the thing: expectations for Vincent Trocheck this year were probably higher than they should have been. Trocheck was signed to a 7-year, $39.3 million deal during the 2022 offseason. The intention was that he would be the 3C behind Mika Zibanejad and Fil “the thrill” Chytil. Unfortunately, due to Chytil’s injury issues, Trocheck was pushed up into a top six role between Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafrenière. He did well there in his first season, notching 64 points in 82 games and setting career-highs in points with 77, average time on ice with 21:27/game, and an All Star selection. 

In addition to the offensive game, Trocheck was maintaining his reputation as an elite faceoff man, responsible two-way player, royal pain in the ass to play against, and dependable team leader.

I think the common belief was that, thriving as he was on that line (first or second, depending on who you asked) he would continue to perform at this same high level for the 2024-25 season.

Performance

Season Total: 82 GP, 26 G, 33 A

Those numbers look pretty good, right? Yeah, don’t believe them. 

I really want you to listen to the Blueshirts Breakaway Podcast to hear Greg and Ryan's take on Trocheck. The conversation on him starts at about the 50 minute mark with the line, “If you played out this season 100 different times I don’t think we spend as little time as we did criticizing Vincent Trocheck.” Yup.

There was not a single player who benefited more from Chris Kreider and Mika being terrible for most of this year more than Vincent Trocheck. Scribes mostly left him alone because he was one of the few Rangers who talked to the media. In the Banter comments we fans tended to focus on guys at the very top of the roster or obsess over the fourth line, but never really gave Trocheck the level of shit he actually deserved. He went mostly unscathed because he was sneaky bad at a time when a bunch of other players were stinking up the joint. His season could, at best, as a season dominated by long stretches of invisibility. And at it's worst, it was a season that saw him regress in nearly every phase of his game, drag down those around him, and look completely out of place as a top six player. 

Trocheck’s normally strong defensive game completely evaporated, seeing him on the ice for a career-worst goals against/60 of 3.7. Now, some will say, “but he was skating with Panarin who doesn’t play much D,” and those people would be right. The problem with that argument is that he was also on a line with Panarin the two previous seasons when that number was lower by one goal/60. In addition, the Rangers goals for per 60 with Trocheck on the ice dropped from five last year to 3.7 this year. His xGF dropped from 66.2 last year to 53.5 this year while his xGA rose from 55 to 57. The -4 differential was the worst of his career since he was with the Panthers in 2017-18. 

Things got worse on special teams too. On the penalty kill, which had often been Trocheck’s defensive calling card, teams feasted with him on the ice, firing off an astounding 6.2 shots per 60, and scoring at a rate of 7.2 goals per 60. If you want to know why the Rangers, who routinely dominated special teams play over the last couple of seasons, were a mess this year, look to Trocheck. 

If you’re looking for more raw numerical terms: Trocheck was on the ice for 106 goals (25 on the PP) he was on the ice for 103 goals against (22 on the PK). He was the very definition of a zero-sum player. 

He did break his finger at the 4 Nations Face-Off (because of course he did) and that didn’t help. But Trocheck was really bad before that too. Of course, despite this, Coach Dumbass still found a way to play Trocheck for over 21 minutes a night. 

Grades

Author Grade: C-
Banter Consensus: C

Final Evaluation

You may be asking yourself how, after everything I wrote above, I could give Trocheck anything greater than an F. In the words of Inigo Montoya, let me explain. Originally I did give him an F. Technically, what I gave him was an F-off, but then I stopped myself and thought about it and it turns out I was grading him against who he was last year and not who he actually is as a hockey player.

It goes back to what I said at the very top: the expectations for Trocheck coming into this year were not realistic. They were higher than they should have been based on a year that, in light of his career statistics, was clearly a Panarin-influenced anomaly (something we should all be used to having watched Ryan Strome for as many years as we did). This year was certainly one of the worst of his career, but if you take last year out of it, it wasn’t that far off from the player who he has always been. It just looks a whole hell of a lot worse as a follow-up to a career-best year. He essentially slid back to what he was the day the Rangers signed him: an overpaid third-line center. Congratulations, he’s Bobby Holik.

Trocheck has a full no-movement clause that turns into a 12-team no trade clause on July 1. If it were me—and it’s not—I would be exploring the market for number 16. I would also put a permanent ban on any Rangers player being able to wear that number again. Seriously: Tom Poti, Bobby Holik, Ryan Strome, Vincent Trocheck. You take Derick Brassard and Mike York out of that list and it’s a who’s-who of disappointing players. Just burn that number with fire. 

Sorry, back to Trocheck.

Yeah, I would look to trade him this summer. Earlier in the year, Elliotte Friedman said that GMs would climb all over each other to get their hands on a player like Trocheck and—despite the craptastic season he had—the NHL is very stupid and so I’ve no doubt that they would still climb all over themselves to get him. A team like Colorado who has no cap space and is staring at the likelihood of Charlie Coyle as their 2C would love him. A team like the Seattle Kraken who are looking for a veteran leader to take them from rebuilder to playoff contender would love him. A team like the Los Angeles Kings who see themselves as being a player away from Cup contention (or at least getting out of the first round) would love him. Might as well call him Raymond because everybody loves him.

Unfortunately, the Rangers probably also love him. He’s a Team USA guy, was instrumental in bringing J.T. Miller back home to New York, was a vocal presence (though mostly impotent) when the Rangers were spiraling into shit, and I’m certain that a coach like Mike Sullivan and GM like Chris Drury absolutely value what Trocheck can bring to a good team. He basically is the player Drury was when the Rangers signed him away from the Sabres. Yeah, the more likely path for Brad Richards, sorry I meant Vincent Trocheck, is that come next season he’s wearing a C on his chest and centering the third line.

The bright side is that with J.T. Miller here, if Mike Sullivan is able to get Mika to play the way he did towards the end of last season, the Rangers don’t necessarily need Trocheck to be anything more than the 3C he actually is. They can take him off the power play and see if he can get his shit together on the PK playing fewer overall minutes. Of course, that’s a lot of ifs and a lot of age and money down the middle.

Maybe I should have given him an F after all...