Rangers sign free agent center Vincent Trocheck to seven-year deal

Rangers general manager Chris Drury was a busy man on Wednesday, the first day of NHL free agency.

Less than a half-hour after the free agent signing period began at noon, Drury plugged the biggest hole in the Rangers’ roster when he signed Vincent Trocheck from Metropolitan Division rival Carolina to be the No. 2 center behind No. 1 Mika Zibanejad. Trocheck agreed to a seven-year contract reportedly worth an average value of $5.625 million.

“We just looked a lot of different players, a lot of different options,’’ Drury said in a Zoom call later with reporters. “Certainly, there was a hole that we wanted to address, and we’re just excited to have Vincent on board. I think he's a real good player (who) does a lot of different things.’’

That, though, was only the start of Drury’s day. Not long after he locked up Trocheck, Drury signed former Islander Jaroslav Halak to fill the backup goaltender spot that had been vacant following the trade of Alexandar Georgiev to Colorado. After that, Drury found a way to clear some salary cap space when he traded defenseman Patrik Nemeth to Arizona.

And after all that, Drury had time left to add a third goaltender in former Pittsburgh Penguin Louis Domingue, who the Rangers faced in the first round of the playoffs.

About the only box left for Drury to check on his summer to-do list is to re-sign restricted free agent forward Kaapo Kakko. He suggested that will happen before long.

“We think the world of him, he's a terrific young player. We want him here for a long time,’’ Drury said of Kakko. “I’m not too worried about getting him … in the fold soon.’’

Finding a No. 2 center to play with Artemi Panarin was priority No. 1 for the Rangers Wednesday, and Drury tabbed Trocheck, 29, for the role after he scored 21 goals and 51 points in 81 games last season for Carolina, and added six goals and 10 points in 14 playoff games. Three of those goals came in the Hurricanes’ seven-game, second-round playoff series against the Rangers.

Trocheck, a Pittsburgh native, replaces Ryan Strome, who had filled the role for most of the last four seasons and who had formed such great chemistry with Panarin the last three years. Strome agreed to a five-year, $25 million deal with Anaheim Wednesday night. Interestingly, Trocheck and Strome were born on the same day, July 11, 1993.

Trocheck, 5-10, 183, can play on the power play and the penalty kill, and has won 52.1 percent of faceoffs in his career. He said he and his agent identified the Rangers early on as a spot that might be a good fit for him, and when they called, it was an easy decision to say yes.

“They’re a great team,’’ he said. “Really young. A ton of potential to be a good team for a lot of years to come … seeing how good they've been the last couple of years and how they're trending upwards was something that kind of drew us toward them.’’

Trocheck said his familiarity with Rangers coach Gerard Gallant was also a factor in his decision. He was in his second NHL season, with the Florida Panthers, when Gallant took over as coach there in 2014-15, and he called Gallant “one of my favorite coaches that I've ever had.’’

Halak, 37, has been a Rangers-killer throughout his 16 NHL seasons, posting a 24-9-1 record, with a 2.33 goals-against average, .927 save percentage and five shutouts in his career against the Blueshirts. He signed a one-year deal for a reported $1.55 million to back up Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Igor Shesterkin after appearing in 17 games last season for Vancouver. Halak made 14 starts and went 4-7-2 with a 2.94 GAA and .903 save percentage.

Trading Nemeth, who signed a three-year deal with the Rangers last summer, cleared $2.5 million in cap space for the Blueshirts. In order to do that, Drury agreed to send a second-round pick in 2025 to Arizona, plus a conditional pick that will either be the Rangers’ third round pick in 2024, or their second-rounder in 2026. The Rangers got back minor league defenseman Ty Emberson in the deal.

The moves leave the Rangers with about $5.5 million under the $82.5 million salary cap to re-sign Kakko, add a sixth and seventh defenseman, and bring in what Drury described as “a low-salary depth centerman’’ to replace Kevin Rooney, who signed a two-year, $2.6 million deal with Calgary Wednesday.

Forwards Andrew Copp and Frank Vatrano, and defenseman Justin Braun, who had joined the Rangers at the trade deadline and helped them get to the Eastern Conference Final, signed with Detroit, Anaheim, and Philadelphia, respectively. The Rangers had hoped to re-sign Tyler Motte, the fourth trade deadline acquisition, but Drury admitted it would be “tight’’ to try and squeeze Motte, a speedy, bottom-six winger, under the cap at this point.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.