The Toronto Maple Leafs are interested in New York Rangers center Vincent Trocheck, according to a report from Darren Dreger on Thursday.
The off-season has been well underway for the Toronto Maple Leafs and new GM John Chayka, who's now had some time to settle in and get to business.
During Thursday's edition of TSN's OverDrive, NHL insider Darren Dreger revealed that the Leafs have been somewhat active in their efforts to improve the team and make changes to the roster for next season.
New York Rangers center Vincent Trocheck was a popular figure around this past season's trade deadline. However, he didn't end up getting moved by the Blueshirts' GM Chris Drury, and that was attached to reports that the veteran preferred to remain in the Eastern Conference.
Now, Dreger believes that the Maple Leafs have their eye on the 32-year-old Trocheck.
"This wouldn't be a surprise, but we know that New York's trying to get off the contract of Trocheck," Dreger said on Overdrive. "Toronto's among the teams that have some interest."
Trocheck, a two-way center who can contribute in all situations, is coming off his fourth campaign with the Rangers. This past year, he featured in 67 contests for New York, scoring 16 goals and 53 points while averaging 20:33 of ice time per game.
Among forwards who have taken at least 1,000 faceoffs, Trocheck finished with the eighth-best win percentage at 56.9 percent. Furthermore, he averaged a team-high two minutes of shorthanded ice time per game and 3:04 of average ice time on the power play.
With all those perks, the right-handed center would come at a substantial cost.
Also, next season, Trocheck will be entering the fifth year of his seven-year contract. The Pittsburgh native earns $5.625 million against the salary cap and will do so through the 2028-29 campaign.
With that, Trocheck has trade protection on his deal. For the 2026-27 season, Trocheck will have a 10-team no-trade list, according to puckpedia.com. In the final two years of that contract, his trade protection decreases to a six-team no-trade list.
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