© Marc DesRosiers/Imagn
When he looks back on it in hindsight, the 2025-26 season may well end up the most memorable Vincent Trocheck‘s impressive NHL career.
Sure, Trocheck himself had a difficult season and the New York Rangers were one of the worst teams in the league. But the Pittsburgh, Pa. native played a significant role for Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics en route to winning their first gold medal in over four decades.
However, there was a time when Trocheck not only didn’t think he’d play for Team USA, he wondered if he’d even live to make it to the Olympics.
Vincent Trocheck Details Scary Infection That Cost Him A Month Of Season
Early on in the season, Trocheck missed several games for the Rangers with what the team called an upper-body injury. It’s not uncommon for NHL teams to play coy with injuries, as they don’t have to report exactly what’s wrong with players.
In fact, it’s pretty rare you ever actually find out what’s wrong with a player until long after the fact. In the case of Trocheck, “upper-body” injury was putting it mildly.
#NYR Vincent Trocheck was dealing with a very gruesome bacterial injury at the start of the season:
“It was very scary — I thought I was gonna die.” pic.twitter.com/2oiSnRA1Zt
— Jonny Lazarus (@JLazzy23) April 17, 2026
On Friday, the 32-year-old met with members of the media for season-ending interviews and described a scary infection that he feared could take his life. Trocheck explained that he initially felt he had back spasms after taking a cross check to the area against the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 9.
In reality, he was dealing with an infection in his lungs that hospitalized him for nearly a week.
“Whatever fluid was in there, it’s like bubbles, and I guess the bubble burst, and it spread, so then it just got a lot worse,” Trocheck said. “I had a lot of fluid around my lung, so I had to have surgery to get the fluid removed — chest tubes, whatever.”
“It was very scary,” Trochek said. “I thought I was dying.”
Trocheck eventually returned on Nov. 10 and played 65 of the last 66 games for the Rangers in addition to the games with Team USA.
The two-time All-Star was at the center of significant trade speculation around the deadline, but ultimately remained in New York. He has three seasons remaining on the seven-year, $39.4 million contract he signed with the Rangers in 2022.