One of the biggest so far this offseason was the trade that saw Vincent Trocheck head to the Utah Mammoth. Interestingly, though, the team may not even play the center as a center. Trocheck has been one of the top centers in the NHL for a while now, as he excels at both goal scoring and defense. But after Utah made a move to retain Barrett Hayton, it seems like the center position has changed up a bit.
Mammoth plan may have Trocheck playing on the wing
According to Brogan Houston of Deseret News, Utah GM Bill Armstrong may not even have Trocheck playing center. "I've had Vincent Trocheck penciled in as Utah's 3C, but after speaking with Bill Armstrong just now, it sounds like the tentative plan is to play him on the wing", said Houston. This is certainly a strange decision, as Trocheck is one of the best players at winning faceoffs. This reason alone was why Trocheck was so expensive to trade for over the last year, in addition to his goal scoring and ultimately being good at everything. Although it does make sense given the number of centers Utah has. By re-signing Barrett Hayton, the Mammoth kept another pretty good center.
"Armstrong twice mentioned Barrett Hayton when talking about the 3C slot, and he had Nick Schmaltz and Logan Cooley as centers 1 and 2", Houston also said. This seems like the plan moving forward might be to have Trocheck playing both the center and winger positions, as Trocheck's value in the faceoff is too important. At the very least, this is a good sign of Utah's great depth at every position this season. This is definitely an interesting development considering that Trocheck is considered a very elite center. Hopefully, wherever Trocheck plays, he can be an X-factor for Utah.
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