The Detroit Red Wings were conspicuously quiet leading up to the Olympic roster freeze. The club didn’t pull off any moves, leaving fans wondering about the next steps.
Beyond a loose link to Artemi Panarin, the Red Wings haven’t really been in anyone since missing out on Quinn Hughes and Rasmus Andersson. But that’s a situation that could soon change.
One of the major pain points for the Red Wings this season has been the absence of a solid scoring center behind captain Dylan Larkin. At the moment, the Wings have deployed Andrew Copp in the second-line center role.
While Copp hasn’t been bad, he hasn’t exactly been what the Red Wings need. Copp has eight goals and 33 points in 58 games. Again, good numbers, but not great either.
That situation has led to the rise of rumors linking New York Rangers center Vincent Trocheck to the Red Wings. Insider Elliotte Friedman provided the rationale for that move. In his 32 Thoughts Podcast from last Friday, Friedman discussed that Trocheck wants to stay in the East Coast.
As such, that comment pretty much shoots down just about every rumor regarding West Coast teams. One Western Conference team purportedly looking to bring in Trocheck is the Minnesota Wild. However, Friedman’s comments effectively knocked that rumor out of the water.
Red Wings were interested in Trocheck before
Friedman doubled down on his comments in the written edition of Friday's 32 Thoughts. In the blog, Friedman made a point about how the Red Wings went after Trocheck when he hit free agency back in 2021. So, there's definitely some history there.
Trocheck was coming off a 51-point season with the Carolina Hurricanes. He parlayed his consistent results into a seven-year, $39.38 million deal with the Rangers. Trocheck has three more years left on that deal after this season.
That’s why Trocheck fits the description of what another insider has described as the Red Wings' main target heading into the trade deadline this season.
Detroit Looking for a Center with Term
One of the prevailing rumors going around is the Red Wings’ predilection for players with term. David Pagnotta reported as much in a Feb. 3 piece in the Fourth Period. He stated that the Red Wings are looking for pieces with time remaining on their contracts. In other words, the Wings are not looking for rentals.
That comment ties in with what Marco D’Amico of RG Media has stated. D’Amico also expounded on the Red Wings’ search for a top-six center, with Trocheck being the main target. According to D’Amico’s sources, Trocheck is the main target. But other fallback options include Nazem Kadri and Elias Pettersson.
The Calgary Flames are believed to be looking to move Kadri. But as for Pettersson, that discussion might seem better suited for the offseason.
The chatter is that the Red Wings are willing to pay the price to land Trocheck. Judging from the Artemi Panarin fiasco, the Red Wings might not have to cough up so much to land the 32-year-old Trochek.
So, it will be interesting to see if the Red Wings can pull off this trade at this year’s deadline. Trocheck has a full no-movement clause. That means that if Trocheck wants to go to Detroit, the Rangers won’t really have much of a choice.