theathleticuk
When Vincent Trocheck arrived in Salt Lake City, toured the Utah Mammoth facilities and pulled on the teams black home jersey for the first time, he wasnt merely an NHL player receiving an introduction to his new home.
For the ex-New York Rangers center, it represented the culmination of a half-year stretch that had included a retool declaration from his former team, a healthy scratch for roster management reasons, and a few months in limbo.
Advertisement Its been basically (six) months of preparation for when (a trade) happened, the 33-year-old told The Athletic last week.
I had prepared the family and I was ready.
So, Trocheck was far from shocked when the Rangers finalized a deal July 1, sending him to the Mammoth for defenseman Sean Durzi, center prospect Cole Beaudoin and a 2027 third-round pick.
If anything, he helped facilitate the move, removing Utah from his no-trade list when it was reduced from 12 to 10 teams this summer.
The deal continued Rangers team president Chris Drurys roster overhaul.
As Drurys most successful free-agent signing since taking over in 2021, Trocheck was a core player during the teams 2024 run to the Eastern Conference final.
Now, only seven of the 22 players who appeared in postseason games for New York that year remain with the club.
In return, New York received a player in Durzi who can immediately handle a top-four defensive role and one of Utahs top forward prospects in Beaudoin.
For the Mammoth, the Trocheck acquisition paired with the Anders Lee signing represents what the organization intends to be a crucial next step.
Utah made the playoffs last year, their second season in Salt Lake City after relocating from Arizona and shedding the Coyotes nickname.
Now, the Mammoth are adding two veteran forwards with playoff experience and top-six capabilities.
Just getting (Trocheck), our players felt like on that day that we took a step forward, Mammoth general manager Bill Armstrong told The Athletic.
With someone like Lee choosing us, its definitely put us on the map.
Now, weve got to take another step with the players thatve come in and push.
The franchise sometimes struggled to attract players when based in Arizona.
But under new ownership committed to spending on facilities and support for players, the Mammoth hope that Trochecks willingness to come to Utah as well as Lee signing in free agency and 33-goal scorer Nick Schmaltz extending to forgo it reflects the team becoming more of a destination for NHL players.
Advertisement Hopefully it sells itself, said owner Ryan Smith, who bought the team in 2024 before moving it to Utah.
I think thats kind of what happened in the Trocheck case.
A convincing pitch In January, with the Rangers in the midst of a second straight disappointing season, Drury wrote a letter to fans announcing the team was entering a rebuild.
In it, he said, That may mean saying goodbye to players that have brought us and our fans great moments over the years.
Star winger Artemi Panarin became the initial focus, with Drury ultimately moving him to Los Angeles on Feb.
4, shortly before the Olympic roster freeze.
With Panarin dealt, Trocheck whose limited, 12-team no-trade list lacked the protection of the full no-movement clauses owned by teammates Mika Zibanejad and J.T.
Miller became the clubs top trade chip.
Under contract through 2028-29 at a reasonable $5.625 million salary cap hit, he only helped his value at the 2026 Milan Olympics, contributing to Team USAs perfect penalty kill en route to capturing a gold medal.
Suitors circled at the deadline.
The Mammoth, for one, looked into him, Armstrong said, but talks never gained traction.
While weighing offers, the Rangers held Trocheck out of their final game before the March trade deadline, citing roster-management reasons.
But Drury maintained a high asking price to the point that interest from the center-hungry Minnesota Wild, once considered a frontrunner, faded.
The Rangers wanted a contributing roster player back as part of any package, a league source said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations.
But playoff-bound teams were reluctant to sacrifice important pieces of their rosters.
So an in-season deal never came together, but Trocheck heard plenty of talk.
Its never easy whenever your names in the headlines for trade purposes, said Trocheck, who finished 2025-26 with 16 goals and 53 points in 67 games as the Rangers limped to the Eastern Conferences worst record.
But Ive been in the league a long time, and its definitely not the first time that my name is in the rumors.
..
Im not going to make any excuses for the year.
That was on us as professionals, as hockey players.
We just werent as good as we shouldve been.
Advertisement After his roster-management scratch, Trocheck said, returning to the lineup felt a little bit weird.
But he also found comfort in the certainty of knowing where hed be the rest of the year.
That didnt change his offseason outlook: He went into the summer expecting a trade, he said.
He even hired a powerful new agent, Pat Brisson of CAA, presumably to gain more control over the process.
Trocheck is from the Pittsburgh area, and during the season he publicly stated his desire to stay east.
Utah was on his 12-team no-trade list for 2025-26, and he could have squashed a potential trade to the Mammoth by including them on his 10-team list for 2026-27.
Instead, the center opened up to the idea.
I heard for a while that they were kind of after me, he said.
I had talked to a bunch of the guys that I know here, and kind of got a feel for everything.
At the trade deadline, Smith spoke to MacKenzie Weegar as the then-Calgary Flames defenseman was deciding whether to waive his no-trade clause to join the Mammoth.
Weegar ultimately did, averaging more than 20 minutes of ice time per game for Utah the rest of the year.
But neither Smith nor Armstrong spoke to Trocheck to convince him to pull the Mammoth from his no-trade list.
Instead, conversations with key players swayed him.
Blossoming forward Logan Cooley, also from Pittsburgh and part of Trochecks summer skating group, expressed excitement to the point that he nagged me for a little while every day wondering what was going on, Trocheck said.
The center also talked to Mammoth captain Clayton Keller, his U.S.
Olympic teammate.
Both Cooley and Keller stressed that the organization treats players well.
The best thing that can happen is our other players are telling him how great it is, Smith told The Athletic.
They convinced me this is a place that guys are going to want to start coming to, Trocheck added.
Advertisement Trocheck said he and Drury had an open back-and-forth throughout the summer, and the Rangers conveyed to Armstrong in trade talks that the center would be willing to join the Mammoth.
Trade negotiations between the clubs picked up around the draft at the end of June, Armstrong said.
The Maple Leafs were among the other clubs interested in acquiring Trocheck.
Armstrong believed his team needed a right-handed center who can skate in the top two lines, and that made him comfortable trading two players he valued highly for Trocheck.
The Mammoth traded up in the 2024 draft to select Beaudoin, whom Armstrong considers a heart-and-soul guy thatll probably be the captain there (in New York).
Hes probably a third-line guy, the GM continued.
But he might play on your second line just because he outworks people.
Hell block a shot with his face, hell hit, hell do anything it takes to win.
And without Durzi, in Armstrongs eyes, the Mammoth wouldnt have reached the playoffs in 2025-26.
But, Armstrong said, youre not going to get a deal done that doesnt hurt.
New faces, new places After the trade, Trocheck received a call from Smith, just as Lee did when he signed with the Mammoth.
My job is to make sure theyre welcome in Utah, that theyve got everything they need, that they have my cell, that Im a phone call away, Smith said.
Im going to be seeing a lot of them.
Beaudoin, meanwhile, was at Utahs development camp when the trade went through.
When you find out about this, youre obviously a little bit shocked, said Eric Faion, Beaudoins agent.
But then obviously being traded to the New York Rangers, an Original Six franchise, its an unbelievable place for players to play, one of the best cities in the world.
He was pretty excited about that, too.
Armstrong was able to meet with him face-to-face, though the 20-year-old center had already learned some of the details at that point.
Advertisement I think I said to him, This is really your first day of pro hockey,' Armstrong said.
We moved him, and it hurt.
As Durzi, who was recently in New York for the NHLs annual player broadcast camp, and Beaudoin are welcomed by Rangers fans, Trocheck says goodbye.
Though only with the team for four years, he became a favorite because of his hard-nosed play and knack for stepping up in big moments, especially during a 2024 playoff run when he had 20 points in 16 games.
That season in particular which included earning the Presidents Trophy and finishing with a franchise-record 55 wins is one Trocheck looks back on with pride.
The team got really close off the ice, Trocheck said.
Everything was kind of falling into place that year.
We grew something special there.
His final two years in New York didnt go as planned, with the Rangers missing the playoffs both seasons.
But, overall, Trocheck will cherish his time with the club and in the city.
My kids kind of grew up there, he said.
My daughter was 1 1/2 when we got there.
My son started playing youth hockey there.
Its a time period in our lives that well always look back on and smile.