The Rangers may have had a chance to squeeze more out of the Vincent Trocheck market last season, at least if Vince Mercogliano’s read on The Athletic Hockey Show is any indication.
According to Mercogliano, the offers that came in for Trocheck “didn’t meet what Chris Drury was looking for.” The rumored packages leaned more toward futures than help that could plug into the lineup right away, and that apparently didn’t line up with the retool approach Drury wanted to take.
That stance eventually led the Rangers to move Trocheck to Utah this past summer, with defenseman Sean Durzi, center prospect Cole Beaudoin and a 2027 third-round pick coming back in the deal.
Minnesota was one of the more publicly discussed teams tied to Trocheck at the deadline, although the exact return was never confirmed. The rumor at the time centered on Charlie Stramel, a first-round pick and another piece, while the Rangers were said to be pushing for Danila Yurov. Nothing materialized, and the full list of other offers remains unknown.
There are really two ways to read it. On one hand, Drury may have simply stuck to his price and gotten the kind of return he wanted. Durzi gives Utah a top-four defenseman, and Beaudoin is viewed as a real prospect - one who is already the best center in the Rangers farm system.
On the other hand, the Rangers might have passed on the best value available at the deadline, even if that return was built around futures, with the idea of flipping those assets later for the pieces they actually wanted. Given that the Blueshirts handed over three first-round picks this past offseason, adding another first could have helped the long-term picture. It also might have given them a young NHL center, something they clearly need.
There isn’t a clean right-or-wrong answer here. But Drury’s reputation with the fan base is what it is, and as the saying goes, sometimes that reputation is earned.
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The gap is in the bottom six, where the Rangers are still searching for more balance and reliability. They have kicked around ways to fill a middle-six role, with free-agent options on the table, while also weighing trade possibilities that could help bring in a younger forward. Braden Schneiders new one-year extension adds another layer to that discussion, since his name has already surfaced as a possible piece in a larger move. [Read more 🡒]