Danny Wild-Imagn ImagesVincent Trocheck faced numerous challenges throughout the 2025-26 season.
After the New York Rangers’ second game of the year, Trocheck was suddenly placed on long-term injured reserve with an apparent upper-body injury.
Up until Friday’s exit interviews, it remained a mystery as to exactly why Trocheck missed 14 games from October to November.
Trocheck explained he had a bacterial infection in his lung and was forced to undergo surgery and spend a week in the hospital, hooked up to chest tubes.
“I thought I was just having back spasms, and then I played the first game,” Trocheck said. “Got a little bit worse. Played in Buffalo. I got a cross check right in that area, and whatever fluid was in there, it’s like bubbles, and I guess the bubble burst and it spread. So then it just got a lot worse. I had a lot of fluid around my lung, so I had to have surgery to get the fluid removed.
“It was very scary. I thought I was dying.”
Trocheck’s next challenge came in the weeks leading up to the March 6 NHL Trade Deadline.
The 32-year-old forward was heavily rumored to be traded, as the Rangers’ playoff chances continued to plummet and the team looked to “retool” the roster with the goal of getting younger.
Trocheck was even held out of the lineup on March 5 due to roster management-related reasons in the Rangers’ last game ahead of the trade deadline, an indication that a deal involving Trocheck was imminent.
However, the trade deadline rolled around, and Trocheck remained with the Rangers.
“Once the trade deadline was over, it was just kind of for that stuff to be like, it's done for now,” Trocheck said. “I can just play hockey and my family can kind of relax. If something does happen in the summer, we at least have some to figure some stuff out. It was more to see what we had as a team after the deadline, going into the summer and trying to get the young guys acclimated. Just trying to see what we have I guess.”
Even though all of the rumors have subsided for now, Trocheck is preparing himself for the chance that he could be traded during the offseason.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen… I’ll talk to my family about it,” Trocheck said of his future with the Rangers. “Try to see where we’re heading as a team… You want to see the team heading in a direction where we’re going to be working to contend.”