Stunning Maple Leafs Rumor Has Them Linked to Vincent Trocheck
A new management team is in town, and that's bringing about some interesting new rumors for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The latest comes to us from Darren Dreger on TSN's Overdrive, who says that the Buds are one of the suitors for one of the top trade candidates of this coming offseason, Vincent Trocheck of the NY Rangers.
🚨 The Maple Leafs are one of the teams actively showing interest in Rangers F Vincent Trocheck, who the Rangers are looking to potentially move.
— Leafslatest (@Leafslatest) May 14, 2026
“This wouldn’t be a surprise, but we know that New York is trying to get off the contract of Trocheck, right?
Toronto is among the… pic.twitter.com/k0fQxKiI8E
“This wouldn’t be a surprise, but we know that New York is trying to get off the contract of Trocheck, right?," said Dreger. "Toronto is among the teams that have some interest, for sure.”
Trocheck would certainly fill a desperate need of the Leafs to find a legitimate No. 2 center behind Auston Matthews (or, perhaps, a 1C if the captain decides he wants out).
At 32 years old, however, landing the Rangers' veteran who still has three years to run on his deal through his age-35 season, would scream of 'retool', not all-out 'rebuild.'
Trockeck becoming a Leafs' trade target
He does carry a very reasonable $5.625 million cap hit He was on the trade block back in March with several teams being linked to the 13-year veteran. He currently has a 12-team no-trade list that reverts to a 10-team list as of July 1.
It was a down year for Trocheck, as it was for most of the Rangers, as he mustered up only 16 goals, following up four straight years of 20+ goal seasons. He only played in 67 games, however, and still managed 53 points with 193 hits.
Being able to push John Tavares down to a third-line role as he gets set to enter his age-36 season would give the Leafs a pretty solid lineup down the middle... Again, if Matthews stays. Though one also has to wonder if Matthews decides to bail, do they just throw in the towel and go all-in on a rebuild?
What could the next surprise be to come out of Leaf Land?
A lot of questions to answer, and it's still all new for the John Chayka/Mats Sundin front office. We got the shocking lottery luck of winning the No. 1 pick last week, followed soon after by the surprising word yesterday that they were moving on from head coach Craig Berube, just when it seemed that he'd been given a reprieve for a while.
It seems like anything can happen next. A Trocheck pursuit apparently being one of those things.
"The Toronto Maple Leafs are as intriguing as it gets right now," said Aaron Korolnek on TSN's Overdrive. "If you're a Leaf fan, buckle up, because.. it could be wild."
