Vincent Trocheck is in Utah now, and that alone would have been impossible not long ago.
The veteran forward was traded from the New York Rangers to the Utah Mammoth earlier this month, but according to various media reports, including Cole Bagley of KSL Sports, Utah had been on Trocheck’s no-trade list before that. In other words, he had the contractual power to stop a move there. By the time the deal actually came together, though, Utah was no longer a destination he was protected against.
At his first media availability with the Mammoth, Trocheck explained why he was comfortable landing there. He pointed to how owners Ryan and Ashley Smith treat players and invest in club infrastructure, and he also said he believes the Mammoth are close to legitimate Stanley Cup contention.
Elsewhere around the hockey world, the Grand Rapids Griffins added winger Nolan Moyle on a one-year, two-way AHL contract. It’s a return to the organization for Moyle, who started the 2025-26 season with Grand Rapids while playing for its ECHL affiliate, the Toledo Walleye.
He moved back and forth between Grand Rapids and Toledo until January 2026, when he left to sign in Austria with EC-KAC. The former Michigan Wolverines captain opened his pro career in 2023-24 with the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star, and he’ll try to build on a 2025-26 season that included 16 AHL games.
Defenseman Jayden Kurtz, selected No. 45 overall by the Anaheim Ducks at last month’s 2026 NHL Entry Draft, has confirmed he will play the 2026-27 season in the USHL with the Chicago Steel. The Wisconsin Badgers commit appeared in 16 games for the Steel last season, but spent most of the year at Rogers High in his home state of Minnesota.
Kurtz is listed at 6’3″ and 194 pounds, and while most public-facing scouting outlets had him pegged in the third or fourth round, Anaheim was clearly higher on him. The Athletic’s Corey Pronman wrote that Kurtz “has a legit chance to play games” in the NHL thanks to his athletic tools.
In Other News...
Pat Verbeek May Be Eyeing A Painful Ducks Cap Move
With the offseason still churning through restricted free-agent business across the league, Allan Walsh noted that some Group 2 players have already landed offer sheets while others have simply gone back to their original clubs. For Anaheim, the bigger conversation has shifted from who might sign where to how Pat Verbeek can keep enough room open to maneuver, and that has pushed the Ducks into the kind of cap talk that usually comes with hard choices.
Jaff Marek and David Pagnotta recently floated the possibility of Anaheim using Pittsburgh as a trade partner to clear money at a discount, with draft compensation potentially part of the price to get a deal done. The idea is straightforward enough in theory, but the execution is where it gets tricky, because the Ducks may have to sweeten the pot in a way that hurts now in order to create the flexibility they want later. [Read more 🡒]
Tim Washe Played His Way Into The Ducks Long Term Plans
Tim Washe arrived in the organization as an undrafted signing, but he spent the season making himself a real part of the Ducks depth chart. He split time between Anaheim and San Diego, getting into 39 NHL games and 36 AHL games while carving out a steady role as the fourth line center and contributing on both sides of the puck.
Washes value showed up in the details the Ducks care about most from a player in that spot, especially at the dot and in the way he stayed in the lineup when the games got tighter. He was there for all 12 playoff games, and with one year left on his contract, his path now points toward a restricted free agency summer where Anaheim will have to decide just how much that kind of reliability is worth. [Read more 🡒]