Rangers' Vincent Trocheck looking for chemistry with his new teammates

The last time he changed teams, it was in-season at the NHL trade deadline when the Florida Panthers shipped Vincent Trocheck north to the Carolina Hurricanes in 2020. The 5-11, 184-pound center had no time then to worry about developing chemistry with his new teammates; he just had to play the best he could.

This time Trocheck, 29, had plenty of time to get himself acclimated to the Rangers, with whom he signed a seven-year, $39.375 million deal as a free agent this summer. The Pittsburgh native moved his wife and two children to New York , and the family found a house near the Westchester County practice facility.  It meant he could   start skating with his new teammates early, before training camp.

In the preseason, Trocheck played in three games, and had two assists. But he didn’t seem to find instant chemistry with his linemate Artemi Panarin, with whom he played in the final two games. As the Rangers opened the regular season Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden against the Tampa Bay Lightning team that beat them in the Eastern Conference finals last season, no one is losing sleep over the fact that Trocheck and Panarin don’t seem to have clicked instantly, the way Panarin and Ryan Strome did.

“When you have preseason games, it's nice to have a little bit of trial and error,’’ Trocheck said Monday. “As far as chemistry goes, when you're playing with a guy, you're watching him while playing with him and trying to figure out his tendencies, and what he tends to do most in certain situations. And you learn from that, and you can bring that into the regular season. And luckily, we had a few games. We were able to do that.’’

Coach Gerard Gallant cautioned not to read too much into preseason hockey. Veteran players are pacing themselves in the preseason, he said, trying to stay healthy, and not exert too much energy before the real games start.

“They played okay,’’ he said of Trocheck and Panarin. “The regular season will start … and we'll see where it goes. But I'm not worried about it. You know they're both good hockey players. They'll figure it out. They'll play fine.’’

The bigger concern for Gallant and the Rangers over the course of the season will be finding the best right wing to play alongside Trocheck and Panarin. Since the first day of training camp, Gallant has been looking at former No. 9 overall pick Vitali Kravtsov in that spot, though he did try veteran Jimmy Vesey there in the final preseason game against the Islanders. Tuesday he had Kravtsov there, hoping the rookie — who admitted to being nervous this preseason — will settle down and produce.

“It's a good thing when you're nervous,’’ Gallant said. “You're trying to play in the best league in the world, and [Kravtsov's] fighting for a spot every day. So he’s got to battle hard. The first test [making the roster out of camp] is good, but now the real test starts, and hopefully he'll play well and work hard. The biggest thing with coaches is, we watch every game, and we don't want to make mistakes. You don't have to make great plays every time you’ve got the puck; but we don't want you to be turning pucks over and making big mistakes.’’

   Kravtsov went out in the first period with what was called an upper body injury and did not return. 

Trocheck isn’t worried about meshing with Kravtsov, either.

“He's so talented,’’ he said of the 22-year-old Kravtsov. “And he wants to do well, and he's been working so hard. And I think he's a little nervous and young. He’s trying to live up to expectations, and it's tough. But he's obviously doing a really good job at working at it. And I think he'll be just fine.’’

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.