Vincent Trocheck showed up in Utah on Friday looking like a new man in a new uniform, but the same sharp-edged personality was right there with him.
Nine days after the Rangers dealt the former All-Star center on July 1, Trocheck was introduced by the Utah Mammoth in Salt Lake City, seated beside general manager Bill Armstrong and Anders Lee. The jersey was different. The humor, not so much.
A big chunk of the conversation centered on Logan Cooley, the 22-year-old Utah forward and fellow Pittsburgh native who has known Trocheck since he was 12. Trocheck said Cooley had been checking in constantly once the trade talk started.
“I wasn’t 100 percent sure how real [the trade to Utah] was and he was texting me every day for what felt like two weeks asking me what was going on,” Trocheck explained. “Every day at the rink [in Pittsburgh], we skate together in the summer. We’d always kind of fantasize a little bit about what it would be like to play together.
“I watched him when he was 12, and he was skating with us and making me look bad. He still does that now, but now to be able to play with him on the same team, I think it’ll be cool.”
Trocheck wasn’t done there. When asked what Cooley had told him about the Mammoth organization, he fired back, “He doesn’t talk much honestly.”
He then added, with a straight face, “He had nothing but great things to say [about the organization]. And I’ve been talking with him about the community, where I should live, and things like that. He has very little insight into those things.”
Even the size talk got a laugh. Lee, listed at 6-foot-3 and 234 pounds, had just explained how he uses his frame to play a physical game and score “dirty goals.” Trocheck, who is 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds, was asked a follow-up about his own style and joked, “I also like to use my size.”
Armstrong had plenty to smile about, but he also laid out why Utah made the move. The Mammoth signed Lee to a three-year deal in free agency and sent defenseman Sean Durzi, center prospect Cole Beaudoin, and a 2027 third-round pick to the Rangers for Trocheck, who turns 33 on Saturday.
“They play a hard game, an inside game with skill. They can beat you with their bodies or their minds. We needed that inside game.”
Utah reached the playoffs as the first wild card from the Western Conference this past season, then lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in six games in the first round.
Trocheck said he took Utah off his original no-trade list because he sees a team with real upside and a chance to win.
“Obviously a lot of potential and they’ve been taking a lot of strides the past few years,” Trocheck stated. “They’re a very good young team. And I think for me, one of the biggest things is just going to a team that has a chance to win.
“I’ve been in the League a long time and I haven’t won anything, so that’s what’s most important to me.”
The Mammoth are getting a veteran center with 868 games of NHL experience, a player who may even spend some time on the wing next season but should still take plenty of face-offs. Trocheck is a seven-time 20-goal scorer with 239 goals and 631 points, and his 77-point season with the Rangers in 2023-24 - the year he also played in the NHL All-Star Game - stands as his career best.
New jersey, same Trocheck. And Utah already looks like a place where that fit could work.
In Other News...
Rangers Suddenly Have A Goalie Problem Fans Were Not Expecting
The Rangers added another wrinkle to their goaltending picture on July 1, bringing in veteran Joonas Korpisalo from the Bruins as they continue sorting out life behind Igor Shesterkin. It is the kind of move that looks straightforward on paper, since Korpisalo arrives with two years left on his deal and is expected to enter the mix for the backup job, but it also changes the way the team has to think about its depth chart and roster construction.
Dylan Garand suddenly finds himself in a tougher spot, because the Rangers now have a more crowded path to the role he had been chasing. And with both Garand and Korpisalo needing waivers before any assignment to Hartford, the team may have to carry extra goaltending insurance longer than planned before the situation settles into something cleaner. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Fans Have Seen This Ruthless Offer Sheet Movie Before
The latest offer-sheet drama around Leo Carlsson has a familiar ring for Rangers fans, because this kind of aggressive move has been part of the leagues playbook before. The Flyers took a big swing, and Anaheim answered by matching, turning what looked like a bold outside bid into a costly retention decision for the Ducks and another reminder that these deals are as much about leverage and structure as they are about talent.
For New York, the comparison inevitably drifts back to the 1997 Joe Sakic episode, when the Rangers tried to use the same ruthless tactic to pry away a star. The names and numbers change, but the lesson is the same: an offer sheet can force a contender to make an uncomfortable financial choice, and it can leave the team making the bid staring at the risk of having spent all that effort for nothing. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Just Created A Massive Pavel Dorofeyev Dilemma
Pavel Dorofeyevs arrival gives the Rangers exactly the kind of finishing punch they have been looking to add, but the bigger question now is how they turn that investment into production. After landing his rights as a restricted free agent and locking him up on a seven-year, $77 million deal, New York is already weighing what kind of linemates can help unlock the goal-scoring touch that made him such an attractive target in the first place.
The challenge is less about Dorofeyevs talent than about fit, because his best work has come when he has had the right kind of support around him. The Rangers are sorting through lineup possibilities in search of a playmaking center or a creative winger who can keep feeding him looks, and the answer to that puzzle may end up shaping not just his numbers, but how quickly this new-look offense finds its rhythm. [Read more 🡒]