MTPS: Tro Must Go

I've had a lot to say about Vincent Trocheck.

There was this, and this, and some of this. Needless to say, I very much agree with the sentiment expressed by Joe on the 67th episode of Blueshirt Bandwidth.

If Vincent Trocheck is here after the trade deadline, Chris Drury done fucked up.

Personally, I think Vincent Trocheck is one of the singularly most overrated players in the entire NHL. I find him to be a better offensive version of Barclay Goodrow. A guy who is considered a "glue" guy and a leader who doesn't actually lead. He makes consistently stupid decisions on the ice, his body language is atrocious, and his post-game comments seem to find fault in everyone who is not Vincent Trocheck. At the same time, the NHL remembers him as a great playoff performer—Sam Bennett before Sam Bennett was a thing—and because of that, and with his contract, general managers will trip all over themselves to get a piece of him. Given where the team is, Drury not taking advantage of that would constitute professional malpractice.

In terms of what the New York Rangers could expect in return, there aren't many comparable trades out there. Players with Trocheck's reputation (notice I didn't say skill or productivity) and term don't often get moved. Charlie Coyle went from the Boston Bruins to the Colorado Avalanche for Casey Mittlestadt, forward prospect William Zellers, and a second round pick. J.T. Miller netted the Vancouver Canucks Filip Chytil, Victor Mancini, and a first round pick. Dylan Cozens and Josh Norris were basically traded for each other in a deal between the Buffalo Sabres and Ottawa Senators. None of these really represent an apples-to-apples comparison, though. Coyle is not as good a player as Trocheck is, the Miller situation had a lot of other stuff involved in it, Cozens is a young guy that Buffalo determined needed a change of scenery, and Norris is a talented player who spends more time on the IR than on the ice.

I think with Trocheck what you're looking at in terms of a return is at least one, possibly two top prospects, a first round pick, and potentially roster players to make the salary cap situation work out. Think the Rick Nash deal—not the one that sent Nash to Boston, but the one that brought Nash to the Rangers in the first place. In that trade, the Rangers surrendered a first round pick, a top prospect (Tim Erixson), and two young NHL players (Artem Anisimov and Brandon Dubinsky).

In the earlier columns I proposed trades that would send Trocheck to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Minnesota Wild. Either of those destinations would make a ton of sense. We know that Bill Guerin, Minnesota's GM, values the leadership and blah-blah-blah that Trocheck brings to the table; that's why he's on Team USA over very good hockey players like Jason Robertson. In fact, Minnesota has already been publicly linked to Trocheck.

In Toronto, Brad Treliving has demolished that team by moving out skilled players (Mitchell Marner) for players he thinks are better equipped to win in the playoffs (Nicholas Roy). We know that Treliving wanted Sam Bennett over the summer and so Vincent Trocheck would obviously appeal to him as well.