With the New York Rangers now on their Olympic break, all eyes are looking towards the trade deadline and what other moves this team could make. With Artemi Panarin now a Los Angeles King, the next player people are talking about is Vincent Trocheck. With how poorly the Panarin trade went over with the fans, general manager Chris Drury needs to make sure this potential Trocheck trade is as good as it can get. This move can either gain some trust back with the fans, or it can make them turn on Drury even more than they already have.
Drury Was Never Going to Win a Panarin Trade
When the letter was sent out and the retool was announced, it became very clear that Panarin’s time in New York was coming to an end. This was the first mistake made by Drury, in that by making it known you were not going to be bringing him back, all other teams who were interested in Panarin got all the leverage. They now knew that they didn’t have to make a big offer for him because Drury needed to get something for him, or he was going to walk as a free agent this summer. While fans were hoping to get a decent haul in return for their star player, the writing was on the wall from the start.
Panarin also had all the power in these discussions, since he has a full no-move clause in his contract. This means that since Drury wanted to trade him, he needed to get permission from the player first, and was given only one team that he wanted to go to, and that was the Kings. While Liam Greentree could turn into a decent player for the Rangers, him being the best asset the team got back in the trade made fans lose their minds. Drury was never going to win a Panarin trade, and now that it has happened, fans have lost even more faith in the man who is supposed to be in charge of turning this team back into a contender.
Trocheck Was Always the Rangers’ Most Valueable Trade Asset
While Panarin is a bigger name, Trocheck was always going to be the player who got the most back in a trade. He is a center, which is a more sought-after commodity at this time of year than a winger, and he wouldn’t be a rental to the team he gets traded to. He still has three more years left on his deal after this season at a reasonable cap hit of $5.625 million. With the way the salary cap is rising and players getting more than they probably should be making given the roles they are playing, any playoff team is going to love having Trocheck at that cap hit.
Related: New York Rangers’ Chris Drury Continues to Get Underwhelming Returns for Trades
Unlike Panarin, Trocheck doesn’t have full control over where he goes in any potential trade. He only has a 12-team no-trade list, so he can still be traded to over half the league. This is going to cause a bidding war for his services, and that is why he was always going to get more back in any potential trade than Panarin. He is a center who plays physically and is going to be playing for Team USA at the Olympics. Teams looking to add at the deadline are going to value him, and he might be the best player available as it gets closer.
This Trade Could Make or Break This “Retool”
This trade alone could have a major impact on how the rest of this “retool” goes. If the Rangers can get back a good amount of assets that can help them next season and going forward, they could be back and fighting for a playoff spot as early as next year. If the trade is underwhelming like the Panarin trade, it could set this retool back several years. Players like Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller, who could also bring back decent returns in a trade, don’t seem to be going anywhere, so moving Trocheck now is Drury’s best bet at maximizing his value.
If Drury can nail this trade on the head, it could also help gain him back some trust with the fans since the majority of them have turned on him for how bad the team has fallen off over the past two seasons. He turned a Presidents’ Trophy-winning team into one looking to get the first overall pick in two years by making some bad trades and not dealing with players in the right way. Fans are skeptical if the guy who tore this team down has the ability to try and fix what he broke, and they have every right to feel that way. The way Drury handles a potential Trocheck trade could have an impact on how fans look at him going forward.
This season has been nothing short of a disaster, and right now, there is not much to be excited about when it comes to the Rangers and their future. Drury has a long road ahead of him if he truly wants to try to make this team a contender again. While fans hate on him for the Panarin trade, this potential Trocheck trade could be the move that starts to get him back into their good graces.
