It's early. He's quietly 3rd on the team in goals. His 2 EV goals are 2nd highest to Kreider's 3. His TOI is far less. He gets no PP1 time, and that's what's going to keep his points total and his goal scoring down. He has to do it all at 5v5. Not going talk about even strength as a whole because 4v4 and 3v3 he doesn't play. He has to do everything 5v5. That's not an easy task.
Trocheck while leading the forwards in ice time most night so far, all the PP1 time, he's got 1 goal. On the PP. While getting over 3 minutes per game on the PP. He's got 1 goal and 1 assist. Zibanejad hasn't scored but at least has 5 points. Fox has 5 points. Kreider has 5 points. Panarin has 7 points. Chytil has 5 points. Kakko has 2 points while getting no PP1 time...Trocheck has 2 points while getting PP1 time crammed down his throat. He needs to be off that unit, his ice time needs to be cut. Rangers best game of the season against Seattle, Trocheck's ice time was limited and the Rangers scored 4 goals. When he leads the forwards in ice time they struggle to score goals. Shocking.
He was so integral to Carolina that Carolina leads the NHL by a wide margin in time in the O zone this season. He wasn't of consequence for them. He's not for us either.
He rides coattails of better players around him. Coaches and fans love him because he skates around like a chicken with its head cut off. But he's ineffective in the offensive zone. He has no hands, he has no shot. Plain and simple. Put my grandmother on PP1 over an 82 game sample size with Panarin, Zibanejad, Kreider, and Fox and she'll score 60 points in a season.
Lafreniere should be on PP1. Having a left handed shot in the high slot for Zibanejad to set up from the left wall makes the PP less predictable. As it stands now only the left side of the ice is shooting. Too predictable. Too many right handed shots. The only left handed shot is standing in front of the goaltender (Kreider). Put Laf, in the "bumper" spot, let Zibanejad set him up.
