It's been a little less than two weeks since the New York Rangers finally made their move to trade away centre Vincent Trocheck. After being on the trade block for most of the year, the Rangers traded Trocheck to the Utah Mammoth in exchange for defenseman Sean Durzi, forward prospect Cole Beaudoin, and a 2027 third-round draft pick. While on paper, this didn't fit the reported asking price the Rangers had for Trocheck, it did give them a puck moving defenseman and a much needed forward to add to their prospect pipeline.
This past Friday, Trocheck spoke with reporters in Utah after his trade to the Mammoth. Trocheck said that he waived his no-trade clause for the Mammoth due to the chance to win and to contend for the Stanley Cup. There was also another tidbit that was interesting during the media availability.
Trocheck expressed a comfortability to play on the wing as opposed to center if that's the direction the Mammoth choose to go in.
Vincent Trocheck open to play on the wing for Mammoth
"I'm comfortable playing pretty much anywhere up front," said Trocheck. "When you're a forward, I think centers and wings are kind of interchangeable. It's just a matter of once you start playing, there's a face-off, and then once you play, you're playing. If you're the first guy back, you're low. If you're the first guy on the forecheck, you're F1 (first forward). It's not necessarily you're playing center or wing. I think it's just throughout a game, the forwards are interchangeable."
This is a bit of a surprise, considering Trocheck was floated this offseason as one of the top centers available. His bread and butter is winning face-offs. That's one of the reasons why the Rangers threw a seven-year contract his way, especially since he was a pain to play against in the face-off circle in the playoffs during his time with the Carolina Hurricanes. Trocheck has had a face-off percentage over 50 percent every season since the 2016-17 campaign.
Cole Bagley, Mammoth insider for KSL Sports, hinted last week that it sounded like Utah was considering moving Trocheck over to the wing as opposed to playing at center.
So to hear the potential of the Mammoth moving him over to the wing is perplexing. But, the Mammoth do have Nick Schmaltz and Logan Cooley as their top two centers on the roster as of this writing. Even though they don't have face-off numbers as good as Trocheck, it appears they are opening the door to playing the best players in their top six. With that, they don't want to move Schmaltz or Cooley from center.
It is odd that Trocheck won't be playing his area of strength on his new team. Let's not forget that he was expected to be the help that center-needy teams were searching for this offseason. But with the Mammoth and all of their depth, Rangers fans should expect him to play on the outside a lot more in Utah than in the face-off circle like he grew accustomed to during his time in New York, Carolina, and Florida.
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