NY Rangers make big splash by signing Vincent Trocheck

The NY Rangers made a big splash on the Free Agent market by signing center Vincent Trocheck away from the Carolina Hurricanes for $39.375 million and seven years for an Average Annual Value (AAV) of $5.625 million.

By signing Trocheck, General Manager Chris Drury checked off several boxes on his “to do” list.   Trocheck is a center who can win faceoffs, has a history as a goal scorer and is a player who has consistently been on the plus side when it comes to advanced analytics.

During the playoffs, Trocheck centered the second line for the Carolina Hurricanes playing with Max Domi and Teuvo Teravainen.   He finished the playoffs with six goals and 10 points in 14 games, pretty solid numbers.  In the regular season, he had 21 goals and 51 points in 81 games with a 54.6% winning percentage on draws and an excellent 55.8% Corsi For rating.

For perspective, on the 2021-22 Rangers he would have been first in both faceoff winning percentage and possession percentage and fourth in goal scoring, sixth in total points.

He turned 29 years old on Monday and has been pretty durable, twice playing the full 82-game schedule in his eight NHL seasons.  In the last five seasons, he has missed 48 games with the longest stretch in 2018-19 when he missed 27 games with a fractured ankle. In reality, it’s not out of the question to say that he is an upgrade on Ryan Strome and very similar to Andrew Copp.

Speaking of Copp, he signed with the Detroit Red Wings for $28.125 million and five years at an AAV of $5.625 million.  That’s the exact same AAV that Trocheck signed for and the term is two years less, so it raises the question of whether the Rangers did make a serious run at re-signing Copp if it was for the same money and less term.

It looks like the Rangers valued Trocheck more than Copp, especially since Copp didn’t do as well at center as he did at wing and Trocheck is better on draws.   While Copp is one year younger, it’s also very possible that the Michigan native took a discount to play for the Red Wings.  In that case, his close relationship with childhood teammate Jacob Trouba was a bit exaggerated.

The only issue with this deal is the term though there is no indication that there are any kind of no movement or no-trade clauses in the contract. It will take him to age 35 and locks in yet another player long-term. Considering the lack of depth at center in the organization, with Mika Zibanejad, Filip Chytil and now Trocheck on board, the team is set at center for the future.

It’s worth noting that the seven-year term is the longest signed by any free agent who changed teams so far on Free Agent Frenzy day (as of 2 pm).

Halak signed & other NY Rangers moves

The Rangers also filled their backup goalie slot by signing Jaroslav Halak to a one-year deal for one year at $1.55 million.  Halak, 37, played in 17 games for Vancouver as the backup to Thatcher Demko.  His goals against average was 2.94 and he posted a .903 save percentage.  He is three years removed from sharing the Jennings Trophy with Tukka Rask in 2019-20 with the Bruins.

There’s an unconfirmed report that the Rangers have traded Patrik Nemeth to the Arizona Coyotes, a move that will clear cap space.  Stay tuned.

It was under the radar, but on Monday the Rangers extended RFA defenseman Libor Hajek, signing him for one year at $800k.   Unless they trade him, he will be in the same situation as last year with a role as the seventh defenseman who has to clear waivers to go to the AHL.

That means he will have to remain with the Rangers most of the season. The 24-year-old played in only 17 games last season with one assist and didn’t see any action in the playoffs. As for departing Rangers, other than Andrew Copp, Frank Vatrano signed with Anaheim for three years and $10.95 million ($3.65 million AAV) and Kevin Rooney signed with Calgary for two years and $2.6 million ($1.3 million AAV).

That should be it for big moves by the Rangers though they still need some help on defense.  One added bonus is that losing Trocheck hurts the Hurricanes, one of the Blueshirts’ archrivals in the Metropolitan Division.