Anders Lee and Vincent Trocheck Excited to Chase Stanley Cup with Mammoth

Before July 1, both of the Utah Mammoth’s latest additions played in New York for multiple seasons. One on Long Island and the other in Manhattan. Both players helped take their team as far as the Eastern Conference Final in the past while fighting through trade rumors as their teams have struggled in the past couple of years.

Before July 1, Anders Lee and Vincent Trocheck hated each other, playing for the New York Rangers and the New York Islanders. While they never played each other in the playoffs, they repeatedly played each other in the regular season with playoff spots in the metropolitan division on the line. To be the best team in New York City, they had to go through each other.

“It’s been a pain playing against Anders the last few years,” Trocheck said.

“Troch has always been someone that you kind of hate lining up against,” Lee said.

Now, thanks to moves made by the Mammoth, the two are in the Western Conference together and have the same goal. Do whatever it takes to finally accomplish the goal every NHLer has had since the first day they laced up skates. Win the Stanley Cup.

Lee Is a Big Addition on and off the Ice

For the past 14 years, Lee has only worn one jersey, an Islanders one. For seven of those seasons, he served as captain of the team. He’s seen it all. Years of disappointment with relocation rumors, multiple home arenas, big stars leaving, followed up by five playoff appearances in the span of six seasons. Two of those times, the Islanders made it all the way to the conference final.

Yet now Lee is here, wearing another NHL team’s jersey. It will be an odd feeling for Islanders fans when he eventually returns to UBS Arena. It was a very weird feeling for Lee when he first agreed to come to Salt Lake City for the next three seasons. However, it’s beginning to feel a bit more normal, especially after visiting his new home for the first time.

“It’s a big change,” Lee said. “There’s no doubt about it. But the last few weeks, I look at this jersey and the logo and start to like it even more and start to feel more comfortable with it. Getting into town and getting a feel for things, you just start to begin the process of settling in.”

As Lee mentioned, it’s a massive change. It’s not just him leaving Long Island. It’s his wife and three kids joining him as well, moving almost fully across the country. That’s not something anyone takes lightly.

However, ever since the Mammoth arrived, the team has been well known for its incredible community and very family-friendly atmosphere. It’s something the Year 1 players commented on when they arrived in Utah for the first time. It’s something that newcomers like MacKenzie Weegar commented on when he was acquired by the Mammoth last season. No surprise that it’s something Lee has already noticed within days of arriving in the city.

“My wife and I and our kids are looking forward to getting in town and getting settled,” Lee said. “The last couple of days, just being here and driving around, seeing what our life could look like, and the mountains and all that stuff, and the people have been phenomenal. Coming in today, seeing the facility and getting to meet the staff and all the guys, it’s been pretty incredible.”

Speaking of the community, the Mammoth pride themselves on their representation in Salt Lake City and helping out the city in any way possible. Alex Kerfoot was a big part of that. However, he has since departed in free agency.

Luckily, with Lee, the Mammoth get another player who is known for his community outreach. For almost the past 10 years, the forward has worked closely with the Kan Foundation, helping raise more than $2.5 million for families affected by cancer diagnoses. He is also a six-time King Clancy Trophy nominee for his work in the Long Island community, winning the award in 2024.

That obsession with using his status as a pro athlete to help the people in his community won’t be going away soon. Lee has already expressed his desire to continue his platform for charitable work in Salt Lake City.

“We have an opportunity to make an impact with our platform, and I was able to do that a lot in New York and on Long Island,” Lee said. “It meant a lot to me and my family to help kids with cancer and families that are going through a pediatric diagnosis. I would love to continue to do that in this community and be able to give back. I think that’s a pretty special thing that, as athletes, we have the opportunity to do, and something that I’ve really enjoyed doing. I would love to see where that can go here in Utah and in Salt Lake.”

As for what Lee brings to the ice, it’s quite a bit. Obviously, he’s a big leader. He held the captaincy with the Islanders for half of his career for a reason. While Clayton Keller and Lawson Crouse will be the ones with letters on their chest with the Mammoth, Lee will be a big help to the already impressive collection of leaders in the locker room.

Lee is a net front guy. He likes using his physicality to stand tall in front of the net and then scores off of rebounds or tipped shots. He’s a solid two-way player who isn’t afraid to use his body to try to win puck battles.

“I use my size and my body to do a lot of the dirty work for the guys on my line, and get in front of the net, try to create some havoc for the goaltender, and play a 200-foot responsible game outside of that, and allow the skill guys to do their thing, and I’ll meet them back in front and try to put something dirty in the net,” Lee said.

ANDERS LEE CALLS GAME FOR THE ISLANDERS WITH 31 SECONDS LEFT 💪 pic.twitter.com/lIZHBfbYcY

— NHL (@NHL) March 2, 2026

He’s a competitor, a veteran, and someone who can help big time in big moments. A leader and a massive part of whatever community he’s a part of, Lee will be a fan favorite with the Mammoth for at least the next three seasons.

Trocheck Excited to Reunite With Friends and Start Winning Again

It wasn’t going to be easy to pry Trocheck out of the Rangers organization. Like Lee, the forward was a big part of the team’s biggest moments in the past couple of seasons. After being signed as a free agent in 2022, he helped the Rangers embark on their most memorable playoff run in recent memory. The team made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Final before being eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers. Trocheck had 20 points in 16 games, including the Game 2 overtime winner against the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round.

Despite the Rangers missing the playoffs the past two seasons, Trocheck wanted to stay a Ranger. A lot of his biggest moments with his family came during his four years with the team. However, after Rangers management sent out a letter announcing a retool and after the first domino fell with Artemi Panarin being shipped off to the Los Angeles Kings, Trocheck’s time was numbered, and he knew that.

Originally, Trocheck had the Mammoth on his no-trade list. However, after players told him about the team becoming a target destination for many, he took Utah off his list on July 1. 

“Going to a team that I think can win was the most important thing for me,” Trocheck said. “I’ve been in the league for a long time, and I haven’t won anything. That’s what’s most important to me. Talking to Cools and Kels, hearing how awesome the organization is and how well it’s run, that was just another added bonus.”

As mentioned, the Eastern Conference Final run in 2022 was the furthest Trocheck has made it in the playoffs. He has never played in a Stanley Cup Final, let alone won a cup. With the Rangers entering a stage of retooling, that wasn’t going to happen in New York. He believes it can happen in Utah.

That’s not to say Trocheck isn’t a winner. He was on Team USA with Keller in the past Olympics, helping his country win gold for the first time since 1980. Though Keller didn’t play a lot during that tournament, Trocheck really got to know the Mammoth captain and the type of person he is.

“He’s a great guy, great person, great leader,” Trocheck said. “He cares about his teammates, and obviously he’s a phenomenal hockey player on the ice. He’s got a ton of skill. He does all the right things. He doesn’t cheat. He doesn’t cut corners. Talking to him the last couple of weeks, just getting a feel for Utah as a community and as a team, he’s been a great guy to lean on.”

Keller isn’t the only player Trocheck is familiar with on the Mammoth. He and Logan Cooley were both born in the same area in Pittsburgh. Trocheck has watched the young forward play ever since he was 12, and they train together in the offseason. To play with a high-caliber player and a tight friend is another thing he’s excited about.

“Every day at the rink, we skate together in the summer, so we’d always fantasize a little bit about what it would be like to play together,” Trocheck said. “I got to watch him grow up from a young age and watch him grow into a spectacular hockey player, and it’s exciting. I watched him when he was 12; he was skating with us and making me look bad. He still does that now, but now, to be able to play with them on the same team is going to be cool.”

Similar to Lee, Trocheck is a very physical player. He knows how to play in big moments with high ice time. He can play on the power play and the penalty kill. He’s also a very responsible player who has had very good defensive stats in the past.

The big thing about Trocheck is that he’s a top-six center, something that isn’t always available on the trade market in the NHL. His faceoff stats have been pretty good throughout his career, including last season with the Rangers, despite dealing with injuries and the team not being that great.

Something curious, though, is that Trocheck might not play in the center role his whole time with the Mammoth. Since July 1, the Mammoth have brought back Kevin Stenlund and matched Barrett Hayton’s offer sheet. They already had Cooley, Jack McBain, and Nick Schmaltz under contract as well, meaning they now have six players who can play the center position. However, the possibility of not playing center doesn’t bother Trocheck at all.

“I’m comfortable playing pretty much anywhere up front,” Trocheck said. “When you’re a forward, I think centers and wings are interchangeable.”

The Mammoth have acquired another player who is fantastic in the faceoff circle. At his best, Trocheck is someone who can produce 60-70 points, lay the body, and be a defensively responsible forward. It’s another great addition to the Mammoth’s forward group.

A Big Step Towards the Ultimate Goal

It didn’t have to be Utah for Lee and Trocheck. They both had plenty of other options. The Minnesota Wild went really hard at Lee in free agency. The Toronto Maple Leafs were trying their best to trade for Trocheck, with other teams like the Wild trying to acquire the center as well.

At the end of the day, the most important thing for Lee and Trocheck was to go to a team that has a chance to win the Stanley Cup. Both forwards are in their 30s and have yet to win a Stanley Cup. For both of them, they believe that the Mammoth are a team that can do just that in the next couple of seasons, especially after watching the team take the big step of making the playoffs last season.

“As an opposing player, over the last few years, you can tell every year they’re taking a step,” Lee said. “It’s a hard game to play. The skills on a different level. There’s a lot of chasing going on at times, and you’ve got to catch up with some of these guys. You could see that on their run last year and in the playoffs that these guys’ window is coming up, and it’s open. That was a big part of the fit for me, wanting to come to a team that has an opportunity to win.”

Lee and Trocheck aren’t just nobodies. Their well respected players in the NHL who have played for quite some time. Adding these two forwards is a very notable move for the Mammoth that shows that players in the league truly believe the team is on their way to competing for a Stanley Cup.

While the fit for their families is great, as Lee said, the duo came to the Mammoth to win. It’s as simple as that. This is the trade that Trocheck ultimately held out for. This could be the last big contract Lee will sign in his career. The two wouldn’t have agreed to join the Mammoth if they didn’t believe their goal of winning the Stanley Cup couldn’t be achieved with the Mammoth.

“Every year you go into it, you come into training camp, and your goal is to win the Stanley Cup,” Trocheck said. “You talk to anybody around the league. There are no moral victories. I think that’s the goal, and that’s what we’re all shooting for. That’s it.”

This is it for the Mammoth. Their window will be fully open within the next season or so, with Tij Iginla and Caleb Desnoyers joining the fray soon. Despite a heartbreaking end to the season in the first round of the playoffs this past May, the best is yet to come for the team. Lee and Trocheck truly believe that, and through coming to Utah, have placed trust in the team to give them a chance to win it all. That’s the goal at the end of the day, and the Mammoth are a lot closer to that goal with Lee and Trocheck on the roster.