{"id":460213,"date":"2026-02-16T22:29:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/460213\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T22:29:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:29:14","slug":"analyst-likes-the-canadiens-for-rangers-40m-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/460213\/","title":{"rendered":"Analyst Likes the Canadiens For Rangers&#8217; $40M Center"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>According to James Mirtle of The Athletic, watch out for the Montreal Canadiens when it comes to <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/t\/trochvi01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=nhltradetalk.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-02-16_hr\">Vincent Trocheck<\/a> and the trade deadline. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7030048\/2026\/02\/11\/nhl-trade-board-matchmaker-thomas-wallstedt-trocheck\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">He writes<\/a>: <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Canadiens\u2019 biggest hole all season has been down the middle, and it\u2019s going to be a battle at the deadline for the limited options who can fill the 2C role on a contender. Even at 32, Trocheck certainly fits that description, and the fact he comes with some term at a reasonable cap hit will help the Habs bridge the gap as their youth movement progresses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mirtle admits that Trocheck\u2019s size might be a factor, as he isn\u2019t the biggest player.  But, what he lacks in size, he makes up for in hockey smarts and can play in all situations. If the Canadiens need him to, they can place him on their top power-play unit as a high-end playmaker. <\/p>\n<p>Mirtle adds, \u201cHe would also be able to take some of the tough matchup load off <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/suzukni01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=nhltradetalk.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-02-16_hr\">Nick Suzuki<\/a> and serve as a strong mentor for <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/d\/demidiv01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=nhltradetalk.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-02-16_hr\">Ivan Demidov<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771280953_993_Vincent-Trocheck-New-York-Rangers.jpg\" alt=\"Vincent Trocheck New York Rangers\" class=\"wp-image-107943\"  \/>Vincent Trocheck New York Rangers<\/p>\n<p>Are There Any Potential Hurdles In the Canadiens Trading for Trocheck?<\/p>\n<p>If there\u2019s a potential hiccup, it could come because Trocheck holds a modified no-trade list in which he can choose 12 teams he doesn\u2019t want to go to. As an American who has never played for a Canadian team, it\u2019s unclear if he would welcome the idea of going to Montreal. <\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t a rental joining a contender for one run of just a few months. Trocheck would have to accept spending the next three seasons beyond this one in a passionate Canadian market. He may be fine to do so, but the Montreal market has its pluses and minuses.  <\/p>\n<p>The good news is that Montreal is an exciting, rising team and he\u2019d be joining them  on their way up. He\u2019d have a chance to win a Stanley Cup for the rest of his current deal. <\/p>\n<p>Next: <a href=\"https:\/\/nhltradetalk.com\/canadiens-crosby-trade-out-plan-b-nazem-kadri\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Canadiens\u2019 Top Trade Target is Off the Board: Plan B Locked In?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\tDiscover more from NHL Trade Talk<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\" style=\"margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;font-size:15px\">Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/NHLTradeTalkweblogo4.png\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to James Mirtle of The Athletic, watch out for the Montreal Canadiens when it comes to Vincent&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460214,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5103],"tags":[265,5,264,21,5147,4,2175,6847],"class_list":{"0":"post-460213","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-montreal-canadiens","8":"tag-canadiens","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-montreal","11":"tag-montreal-canadiens","12":"tag-montrealcanadiens","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-top-story","15":"tag-vincent-trochek"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116082676718723862","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}