Rangers won’t trade Vincent Trocheck if they can’t maximize return

General manager Chris Drury of the New York Rangers has been trying to trade second-line center Vincent Trocheck for several months now, but at both the trade deadline and during the NHL Draft, a deal did not materialize.

Trocheck, who has three seasons left on his contract at a cap hit of $5.625 million, had 53 points in 67 games this past year and was a member of the gold-medal-winning United States Olympic team in February.

As a defensively responsible pivot who excels in the face-off dot, any contending team could benefit from having Trocheck in the fold, but will New York get an offer it finds worthy of moving him for, especially after landing Pavel Dorofeyev in what could be construed as a win-now move.

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Jonny Lazarus and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton were joined by NHL insider David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period to discuss Drury’s level of urgency in terms of getting a Trocheck deal done.

Jonny Lazarus: The big talk is Vincent Trocheck, his name has been involved in trades since last deadline. They’ve now hung on to him post-NHL Draft. I think there’s talks about hanging on to him just in general. Have you made anything of the Vincent Trocheck situation, or do you think he actually will possibly stay in New York?

David Pagnotta: There’s certainly a possibility of him sticking around because Drury and Co. have kind of held firm on what their ask is. If they’re not going to get it, they don’t feel there’s a point in trading him. He’s got three years on his contract, so there’s no immediate sense of urgency with this. This is more of a scenario where, again, if they’re not going to maximize their return, why pull the trigger? For him, it kind of sucks a little bit if he does have to wait, and all these conversations are going to pop up again during the season depending on how his year and how the Rangers go. I think the preference across the board was to get something done this summer, and ideally around this timeframe. If draft doesn’t work, well what about this week? Going in and past free agency, are there going to be some possibilities there? I think the conversations will continue, but until the Rangers get their price, and they feel they can, they’re just going to wait it out.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode below…