Trocheck returning with Rangers to face Panthers in Winter Classic

GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Vincent Trocheck spent his first seven seasons in the NHL playing in South Florida and watching so many of the cold-weather U.S. markets from Washington to Boston to Minnesota to Denver to St. Louis to Pittsburgh to New York get to host an outdoor game.

"We just always assumed it would never happen for us," Trocheck told NHL.com about that time with the Panthers. "Logistically I feel like it's just very hard and it didn't make sense. It was talked about briefly here and there, but that's it."

Well, it's happening, and Trocheck will be there for it, only on the other side, a visitor from one of those markets when the Florida Panthers, his old team, take on the New York Rangers, his current team, in the 2026 Discover NHL Winter Classic at loanDepot park in Miami on Jan. 2 (8 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SNW, SNO, SNE, TVAS).

Trocheck had 282 points (111 goals, 171 assists) in 420 games with the Panthers from 2014-20.

He was 20 years old when he played his first NHL game, March 7, 2014.

He was 26, married and a father to son Leo when he played his last game with the Panthers on Feb. 22, 2020, before they traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes two days later.

"I mean, I grew up as a person there," Trocheck said. "I was 20 years old when I got there. I played there for six and a half seasons. My son was born five years into it. I started my career there. I bought a house there. I went from being a kid to being a dad. I played 400 games there. So it holds a special place in mine and my family's heart."

A lot has changed since Trocheck left South Florida almost six years ago.

On the ice, he switched teams again, signing a seven-year contract with the Rangers on July 13, 2022. He had his best NHL season in 2023-24 with 77 points (25 goals, 52 assists), helping the Rangers get to the Eastern Conference Final. He played for the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off last season and is a candidate to represent his country in the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

Trocheck has 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) in 25 games this season.

Off the ice, he and his wife Hillary had a second child, Lennon, who was born eight months after he was traded to Carolina. He moved to New York and now Leo is playing minor hockey in the area.

But none of that matters to Trocheck every time he returns to Florida. He always has the same emotion, and he will again when the Rangers go there for the Winter Classic after playing in Washington on New Year's Eve.

"My son was there for the first two years of his life," Trocheck said. "He was born in Pittsburgh but he was raised there for the first couple of years of his life. We go back to see where we lived. It just brings back some nostalgia a little bit. That part of it will be fun and special. There are very few guys left on the team that were there when I was there, but a lot of the staff is still there. I always enjoy when we go back and I'm able to see the staff I was with for a long time. It is nostalgic going back there and it'll obviously be different being that it's an outdoor game in Miami as opposed to Sunrise."

To Trocheck's point, the only Panthers players who remain from his time in the organization are center Aleksander Barkov, defenseman Aaron Ekblad and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.

Those three have been part of the core that has led Florida to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships after a run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2023.

It's quite different from what Trocheck experienced. The Panthers made the Stanley Cup Playoffs once in his time with them. He played two games in 2016 and they were eliminated in six games by the New York Islanders in the first round.

And now they're getting the outdoor game they all never thought would be possible.

"It's great for hockey obviously having another hockey market and I feel like they've brought so much excitement there when it comes to hockey," Trocheck said. "The youth programs there are much better now. I think (Panthers owner) Vinny Viola has just done a great job of turning it into what it is today. I'm very happy for them obviously, the staff down there and the friends I still have on that team. But, for me, you leave a team and then they win a couple Cups, it's not always fun. I'm still happy for the people that I was with down there."