Vincent Trocheck has stepped up as a leader since the Rangers traded Jacob Trouba to the Ducks.
Vincent Trocheck is a prime candidate to take over as captain of the New York Rangers.
Following the trade that sent Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks, Peter Laviolette emphasized that he does not plan to name a captain immediately.
However, that didn’t stop Trocheck from stepping up as a leader and taking over the responsibilities a captain would normally have.
Through the Rangers’ recent struggles, the veteran forward has made it a priority of his to talk with the media and be the spokesman of the team in a way.
After multiple losses over the past couple of weeks, Trocheck has made himself available in the locker room, offering words of wisdom for a disjointed Rangers team.
Rumors sparked of a closed-door meeting between the players with Rangers general manager Chris Drury being a topic of contention.
While on the road, Trocheck initiated a media scrum to debunk any rumors that Drury was brought up during the meeting and clarified what the conversation was really about.
“When we have closed-door meetings in here, it’s about us,” Trocheck said via Mollie Walker of The New York Post. “It’s about what we can do. Obviously, we’re in a little bit of a hole right now, and it’s about what we can do to get out of it. It has nothing to do with management. They do their job.”
“Chris is doing his job to try to put the best players on the ice to succeed. We are those players, and we have to go out there and perform. Do we what can to succeed. I just wanted to clear the air on that. Obviously there’s a lot of stuff circulating our team right now and when I see something like that, I don’t know where it even comes from. That kind of frustrated me.”
This is a sign of a true leader. Trocheck wanted to ensure that all this speculation didn’t spiral out of control and shut it down quickly.
The 31-year-old forward also leads by example. On the ice, Trocheck plays furiously as he fights for every loose puck and plays with a physicality that is admirable.
It’s unclear when the Rangers will ultimately name a captain, but whenever they do, Trocheck should be the team’s first choice.
