Minnesota Wild Will Have Challenging Time Pulling Off Major Trade With Rangers

The Minnesota Wild pulled off the big trade of the season and it might end up staying as the biggest deal between them and the Vancouver Canucks involving Quinn Hughes. The trade cost the Wild four assets: Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, Zeev Buium, and a 2026 first-round pick. That is a lot of assets to use on one player, even though it seems to be worth it as their new defenseman has 34 points in 26 games since the trade.

But that somewhat limits the Wild from making any more massive trades. Chris Johnston said, the Wild "will be challenged to put together the right deal for Vincent Trocheck from the Rangers because of the A-plus assets they've already spent elsewhere, but Guerin has shown an ability to get things done."

The Wild have their first-round pick for 2027 and 2028, and also prospects such as Riley Heidt, Hunter Height, Oskar Olausson, David Jiricek, David Spacek, Carson Lambos, Charlie Stramel, and Ryder Ritchie could all be in play.

The New York Rangers will definitely have interest in Daniil Yurov, but considering the role he's played with the Wild this season, that might be a hard pull from the lineup, but also might be a deal-breaker for the Rangers. Ryan Hartman might have to be a player in play as he's a center and his cap hit would help offset Trocheck's coming back.

Trocheck is 32 years old and has three years left on his deal at $5.625 million AAV. He also has a 12-team no-trade list that drops to a 10-team next season, and then a 6-team for the final two seasons. But there isn't a high chance the veteran makes it with the Rangers past this offseason, not because his play is poor, but because the team needs a change, Artemi Panarin is already gone, and Trocheck's value is so high.

There will likely be at least three assets from the Wild heading to the Rangers to be able to pull off a deal, but the Wild are in win-now mode, and acquiring Trocheck opens that door even more for a few years.