Vincent Trocheck paused before answering, and when he began speaking, it was clear how much the Panthers meant to him and his career.
For the second consecutive series, the Rangers forward will face his former team.
Trocheck was drafted in the third round by the Panthers in 2011 and spent his first six-plus seasons in the NHL.
Now, the Panthers will face the Rangers in the Eastern Conference Finals starting Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.
“It’s a little nostalgic,” Trocheck said after practice Tuesday afternoon about how it felt to play against the Panthers. “Obviously, I made my NHL debut at Florida and they gave me my first chance.…It’s a little weird, of course, coming back to play against them in the playoffs. ”
Trocheck, 30, rose to prominence near the end of his time with the Panthers and was named an All-Star in 2017. He finished that season with 75 points (31 points, 44 assists), which was his career high until this year.
The Rangers took Trocheck’s game to a new level, developing him into one of the best forwards in the NHL.
He finished this year’s regular season with 77 points (25 goals, 52 assists) and added 14 more points (6 goals, 8 assists) in the playoffs.
Trocheck was named an All-Star this year for the second time in his career. He scored 64 points (22 goals, 42 assists) last year, the third most of his career.
“He had a great season and a really good playoff run,” Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury said Tuesday. “He’s a great leader and he’s as competitive as anyone. I think that’s one of his greatest attributes for those of us who get to see him every day, especially in practice. We’re lucky to have him. ”
This feeling is nothing new for Trocheck.
In their final series, they faced the Hurricanes, who played together for three seasons between the Panthers and Rangers.
The Hurricanes acquired Trocheck from the Panthers at the 2020 deadline in exchange for Erik Haula, Lukas Wohlmark, Eetu Luostarinen, and Chase Prisky.
Trocheck had plenty of trash talk with his former Hurricanes teammates during the Rangers’ six-game dispatch of the Hurricanes.
There should be far less of that in this game against the Panthers.
“We just played against our previous team in Carolina, so this is another series we have to get through,” Trocheck said. “Carolina’s stuff is a little bit fresher. The number of players we played with now in Florida is a lot less compared to Carolina. We’ve got to find a way to get through them, too.”
