After the news that center Max Domi would be out indefinitely after offseason surgery, the Toronto Maple Leafs have already begun perusing the trade market for a second-line center. According to Mollie Walker of the New York Post, the Maple Leafs have reached out to the New York Rangers to gauge the price for Vincent Trocheck.
It’s a peculiar idea for a few reasons. Toronto finished 28th in the league after a disastrous 2025-26 season, and many believed they would undergo a brief retool instead of simply running the team back with outside additions. Secondly, of all the needs that the Maple Leafs have, center isn’t one of them.
Although the Maple Leafs finished the year with Domi as their second-line center, that was only because captain Auston Matthews underwent surgery to repair a torn MCL. Considering a 12-week recovery timeline in March, it’s certain that Matthews will begin the 2026-27 season on schedule. Additionally, once Matthews does return, veteran John Tavares is expected to resume his role as Toronto’s second-line center.
Still, there’s no question why the Maple Leafs, or any other team for that matter, would be interested in Trocheck. He’s locked in for three more years at an affordable $5.625MM salary and is coming off another productive season in which he scored 16 goals and 53 points in 67 games with a 56.9% faceoff percentage.
Regardless, despite making Trocheck available at the trade deadline and planning to do so again this summer, General Manager Chris Drury remains firm in his asking price. It’s well known that New York wants a young NHL-caliber player, plus additional assets, for Trocheck.
Ideally, among all the players on the Maple Leafs, the Rangers would likely target Matthew Knies as a return package. At this point, that doesn’t seem like something Toronto would entertain, nor should they.
Theoretically, the Maple Leafs could package forward Nicholas Robertson, prospect defenseman Ben Danford, and Colorado’s conditional first-round pick in 2027, along with additional assets. However, even if New York were interested in such a trade, it would only provide short-term gains for Toronto and wouldn’t position them as favorites for the Stanley Cup. This approach would involve further mortgaging of their future.
If new General Manager John Chayka is intent on getting the Maple Leafs back to postseason contention next season, their main targets should be on defense. Toronto had the most shots against of any team this year by a wide margin, and it’s beyond clear that their defensive corps is not up to par.
Given that Danford is widely considered NHL-ready, and assuming they want to be aggressive, Toronto should allow him to crack the opening night roster and package additional assets for another defenseman or two.
lol
The Rangers can do better than Robertson, Danford & Colorado’s #1 in a Trocheck trade
Yeah! They could get the 3 C’s from Detroit: Cossa, Compher and Copp! 😆
Who isn’t interested.
Idk why fans make such big deals out of these reports.
Most of the time it’s just an excuse to talk to the opposing gm
Do the Leafs just assume that Vinny is automatically interested in them? Heck, he might just as well like staying with a rebuilding/retooling NYR team. Just because he can (as long as his no-trade list selections are respected).
Vinny and T.J. need to stay together. It just needs to be. 😄
Does he have a. No trade?
@Gbear – I’m hoping you meant J.T. right? Great future headline: “Vincent Trocheck, after seeing Miller blow a wide open net on their short-handed 2-on-0, goes bonkers and crosschecks his captain in the schnozzola. After several agonizing minutes, the officials announce that Miller will get 5 and a game for receiving!” 😆
@Grr arg grr – Yes, he has a 10-team No-Trade List for this upcoming season, and that decreases to 6 teams for the last two years of his current contract (per PuckPedia).
@Mac – Hey, at least I got the initials right, albeit backwards! 😄
Yeah, I don’t think the Leafs are moving Knies for Vinny. Then again, this is Chayka at the helm.
Why would the Rangers want Robertson and Danford and a very late 1st when they could get twice the value of that package from any other interested team?
A guy turning 33, scored only 16 and at his best is 25 goals, undersized and probably already past his peak? Meh.
Yeah lots of years left on his contract too.
He seems like a middling asset relative to the perceived value.
Teams aren’t as dumb as the used to be. This is the type of asset teams USED to covet even if the metrics were tanking. I don’t even think the Leafs would offer that.
@MB81 – He scored 31 with FLA in 2017-18, but the Leafs would/should be more interested in his faceoff prowess. For the last 10 years, he’s been above water, which is pretty decent.
Tavares just scored 31, not 8-9 years ago. I can’t see any reason to offer anything of value here
@MB81 – This was about Trocheck, not Tavares.
I know. But we have good centres who win faceoffs. No need to spend draft capital or prospects for a middling 3C