Bill Guerin was famously making his own meatballs when pulling off the Quinn Hughes trade, but it appears that this week, he’s determined to import some gabagool from New York.
As Friday’s March 6 trade deadline approaches, it looks like the Minnesota Wild’s No. 1 target is Italian-American center Vincent Trocheck, who plays at Madison Square Garden, just a half-hour drive from the location used for Satriale’s Pork Store in “The Sopranos.”
At this point, it seems the hold-up is the New York Rangers. As Elliotte Freidman reported on TNT Sunday night, “I think the Rangers know exactly what…Minnesota’s willing to do for Trocheck, and I think they’re just looking around and saying, ‘Do we take that deal, or do we find another deal elsewhere that beats it?'”
At first blush, it doesn’t seem like Trocheck fits the No. 1 center bill. Not for a fan base that has long dreamt about trading for an unavailable star like Dylan Larkin, Tage Thompson, or Brady Tkachuk, or even an available star like Robert Thomas. Trocheck has a 30-goal season and two 70-point campaigns under his belt, but he feels more workmanlike than skilled. Before the season, the NHL world generally didn’t consider him to be a top-150 player.
If the Rangers wind up accepting Minnesota’s standing offer, Trocheck will be another center for Minnesota to be a de facto No. 1 Center while falling short of “Top-Line Center” status. That might not be a major issue. The Wild’s offense is driven through wingers Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, and of course, defenseman Quinn Hughes. Their centers don’t have to be the driving force of their line. They just need to keep up with the stars, threaten enough so that opponents must account for them, and take advantage of beautiful cross-ice passes.
Trocheck will bring value as an upgrade to Ryan Hartman, who has zero goals in his last 11 games, all centering Kaprizov on the top line. But the real benefit the Wild should reap from having Trocheck is having a perfect bridge to their aspiring No. 1 Center, Danila Yurov.
Two things are true about Yurov: He’s on the rise in his rookie season, and he’s not quite ready to be the go-to center of this team. Handing a 22-year-old making his North American debut the keys to the top line of a playoff team is a tall order, and it’s clear that the Wild care enough about his 38.6% faceoff percentage to limit his exposure to top centermen in the league. Yurov is showing his speed, skill, and smarts, but the room for growth is obvious.
Trocheck providing a passable presence on the top line would give Minnesota a lot of breathing room when it comes to Yurov’s development. His contract runs three more seasons (at a reasonable $5.625 million cap hit), meaning the Wild’s ability to make a Stanley Cup run wouldn’t be limited by the speed of Yurov becoming a finished product. They’d have a bankable 20 goals and 50 points at the top of the lineup with Trocheck, plus upside for more.
Three years is a lot of time for Yurov to get stronger, to keep learning faceoff techniques, and build chemistry with his teammates. Maybe Minnesota doesn’t have to wait that long, and Yurov takes a Marco Rossi-like leap in his sophomore season. Or maybe he doesn’t, and in that case, having Trocheck and Joel Eriksson Ek locked into the top-six sets a hell of a floor for the team.
However, the beauty of having Trocheck would be most felt if and when Yurov does emerge as Minnesota’s top option at center. Suddenly, the Wild would have a lot of options at their disposal.
Trocheck held his stock steady through most of the Olympics, but perhaps showed his true worth in the Gold Medal Game. He was a crucial part of the 5-on-3 penalty kill that held Canada scoreless for 1:33, taking away the middle of the ice from perhaps the most dangerous power play unit ever assembled. Trocheck played just 11:22 in that game, but he stood out in a defensive, penalty-killing role.
Yurov taking over the top role allows Trocheck to drop in the lineup and take on a similar job in Minnesota. He’d be a go-to penalty killer, helping drive offense from the third line on a value contract. We know Trocheck can handle that role for a winning team and do it without rocking the boat.
Or, perhaps Yurov could push Trocheck down to the second line, with Eriksson Ek moving to the third. It’s less likely, as Eriksson Ek shows a lot of chemistry with Boldy, but it is an option worth considering. Eriksson Ek takes a ton of punishment over an 82-game season, playing more than 19 minutes a night in all situations. Right now, he’s banged up, and it doesn’t help when he takes unlucky shots to the eye via an opponent’s stick.
Everyone in Minnesota knows how dominant the Wild’s third line can be when it’s helmed by Eriksson Ek and his forechecking. Having him there would shave a few minutes off his nightly wear-and-tear, hopefully keeping him fresher (and available to move back up the lineup) for the playoffs.
Some players can win you a Stanley Cup, and players who help set a floor for a team. Trocheck is probably in the latter category, which is all too familiar to longtime Wild fans. What isn’t so familiar is Minnesota having not one, but three players in the former category: Hughes, Kaprizov, and Boldy. A trade for Trocheck won’t lead Wild fans to plan a parade, necessarily, but it will give the team a lot of flexibility and options going forward, and that might be enough to make a difference.
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