The deal continued Rangers team president Chris Drury\u2019s roster overhaul. As Drury\u2019s most successful free-agent signing since taking over in 2021, Trocheck was a core player during the team\u2019s 2024 run to the Eastern Conference final. Now, only seven of the 22 players who appeared in postseason games for New York that year remain with the club. In return, New York received a player in Durzi who can immediately handle a top-four defensive role and one of Utah\u2019s top forward prospects in Beaudoin<\/a>.<\/p>\n Can Gabe Perreault get to Nikita Kucherov\u2019s level?<\/p>\n Scott Wheeler, Corey Pronman and more<\/p>\n For the Mammoth, the Trocheck acquisition \u2014 paired with the Anders Lee signing<\/a> \u2014 represents what the organization intends to be a crucial next step. Utah made the playoffs last year, their second season in Salt Lake City after relocating from Arizona and shedding the Coyotes nickname. Now, the Mammoth are adding two veteran forwards with playoff experience and top-six capabilities.<\/p>\n \u201cJust getting (Trocheck), our players felt like on that day that we took a step forward,\u201d Mammoth general manager Bill Armstrong told The Athletic. \u201cWith someone like Lee choosing us, it\u2019s definitely put us on the map. Now, we\u2019ve got to take another step with the players that\u2019ve come in and push.\u201d<\/p>\n The franchise sometimes struggled to attract players when based in Arizona. But under new ownership committed to spending on facilities and support for players, the Mammoth hope that Trocheck\u2019s willingness to come to Utah \u2014 as well as Lee signing in free agency and 33-goal scorer Nick Schmaltz extending to forgo it \u2014 reflects the team becoming more of a destination for NHL players.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully it sells itself,\u201d said owner Ryan Smith, who bought the team in 2024 before moving it to Utah. \u201cI think that\u2019s kind of what happened in the Trocheck case.\u201d<\/p>\n A convincing pitch<\/p>\n In January, with the Rangers in the midst of a second straight disappointing season, Drury wrote a letter to fans announcing the team was entering a rebuild. In it, he said, \u201cThat may mean saying goodbye to players that have brought us and our fans great moments over the years.\u201d Star winger Artemi Panarin became the initial focus, with Drury ultimately moving him to Los Angeles on Feb. 4, shortly before the Olympic roster freeze.<\/p>\n With Panarin dealt, Trocheck \u2014 whose limited, 12-team no-trade list lacked the protection of the full no-movement clauses owned by teammates Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller \u2014 became the club\u2019s top trade chip. Under contract through 2028-29 at a reasonable $5.625 million salary cap hit, he only helped his value at the 2026 Milan Olympics, contributing to Team USA\u2019s perfect penalty kill en route to capturing a gold medal.<\/p>\n Suitors circled at the deadline. The Mammoth, for one, \u201clooked into him,\u201d Armstrong said, but talks never gained traction.<\/p>\n While weighing offers, the Rangers held Trocheck out of their final game before the March trade deadline, citing roster-management reasons. But Drury maintained a high asking price \u2014 to the point that interest from the center-hungry Minnesota Wild<\/a>, once considered a frontrunner, faded. The Rangers wanted a contributing roster player back as part of any package, a league source said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations. But playoff-bound teams were reluctant to sacrifice important pieces of their rosters.<\/p>\n So an in-season deal never came together, but Trocheck heard plenty of talk.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s never easy whenever your name\u2019s in the headlines for trade purposes,\u201d said Trocheck, who finished 2025-26 with 16 goals and 53 points in 67 games as the Rangers limped to the Eastern Conference\u2019s worst record. \u201cBut I\u2019ve been in the league a long time, and it\u2019s definitely not the first time that my name is in the rumors. \u2026 I\u2019m not going to make any excuses for the year. That was on us as professionals, as hockey players. We just weren\u2019t as good as we should\u2019ve been.\u201d<\/p>\n After his roster-management scratch, Trocheck said, returning to the lineup felt \u201ca little bit\u201d weird. But he also found comfort in the certainty of knowing where he\u2019d be the rest of the year.<\/p>\n That didn\u2019t change his offseason outlook: He went into the summer expecting a trade, he said. He even hired a powerful new agent, Pat Brisson of CAA, presumably to gain more control over the process.<\/p>\n Trocheck is from the Pittsburgh area, and during the season he publicly stated his desire to stay east. Utah was on his 12-team no-trade list for 2025-26, and he could have squashed a potential trade to the Mammoth by including them on his 10-team list for 2026-27. Instead, the center opened up to the idea.<\/p>\n \u201cI heard for a while that they were kind of after me,\u201d he said. \u201cI had talked to a bunch of the guys that I know here, and kind of got a feel for everything.\u201d<\/p>\n At the trade deadline, Smith spoke to MacKenzie Weegar as the then-Calgary Flames defenseman was deciding whether to waive his no-trade clause to join the Mammoth. Weegar ultimately did, averaging more than 20 minutes of ice time per game for Utah the rest of the year.<\/p>\n But neither Smith nor Armstrong spoke to Trocheck to convince him to pull the Mammoth from his no-trade list. Instead, conversations with key players swayed him. Blossoming forward Logan Cooley, also from Pittsburgh and part of Trocheck\u2019s summer skating group, expressed excitement to the point that he \u201cnagged me for a little while every day wondering what was going on,\u201d Trocheck said.<\/p>\n The center also talked to Mammoth captain Clayton Keller, his U.S. Olympic teammate. Both Cooley and Keller stressed that the organization treats players well.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best thing that can happen is our other players are telling him how great it is,\u201d Smith told The Athletic.<\/p>\n \u201cThey convinced me this is a place that guys are going to want to start coming to,\u201d Trocheck added.<\/p>\n Trocheck said he and Drury had an open back-and-forth throughout the summer, and the Rangers conveyed to Armstrong in trade talks that the center would be willing to join the Mammoth. Trade negotiations between the clubs picked up around the draft at the end of June, Armstrong said. The Maple Leafs were among the other clubs<\/a> interested in acquiring Trocheck.<\/p>\n Armstrong believed his team needed a right-handed center who can skate in the top two lines, and that made him comfortable trading two players he valued highly for Trocheck. The Mammoth traded up in the 2024 draft to select Beaudoin, whom Armstrong considers \u201ca heart-and-soul guy that\u2019ll probably be the captain there (in New York).\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s probably a third-line guy,\u201d the GM continued. \u201cBut he might play on your second line just because he outworks people. He\u2019ll block a shot with his face, he\u2019ll hit, he\u2019ll do anything it takes to win.\u201d<\/p>\n And without Durzi, in Armstrong\u2019s eyes, the Mammoth wouldn\u2019t have reached the playoffs in 2025-26.<\/p>\n \u201cBut,\u201d Armstrong said, \u201cyou\u2019re not going to get a deal done that doesn\u2019t hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n
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