Rangers Among Teams Discussing Mason McTavish Trade

One player whose name has come up in trade speculation with regularity recently is Ducks center Mason McTavish.  It appears the Rangers are among the teams pursuing him as Frank Seravalli of Victory+ and Hockey 24/7 reports (Twitter link) that the two teams are in advanced discussions about McTavish although no trade is in place yet.  Meanwhile, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic adds (Twitter link) that Anaheim is believed to be weighing a pair of offers for McTavish that have been made in recent hours.

McTavish was the third overall selection by the Ducks back in 2021 with the hopes that he’d emerge as a core center.  At this point of his career, it’s not looking as if he’s going to live up to his draft billing although that isn’t to say that he’s going to be viewed as a bust either.  Through his first four full NHL seasons, the 23-year-old has settled in as more of a secondary core piece.

After putting up 22 goals and 30 assists in 2024-25, it looked as if McTavish might be ready to take a step forward and cement himself as a full-time top-six player.  The six-year, $42MM contract he eventually received after a prolonged contract negotiation reflected that expectation.

But things didn’t quite go as planned.  The addition of Mikael Granlund and breakout performance from Leo Carlsson pushed McTavish down the depth chart and while several players improved their play under new bench boss Joel Quenneville, he was one of the exceptions.  The end result was a dip in production to 17 goals and 24 assists in 75 games while even being healthy scratched the odd game, including in the playoffs.

On the one hand, McTavish’s value would seem to be lower than it was a year ago so moving him now in that situation might not seem ideal.  On the other hand, impact centers are in so short supply and so high demand while there are many more buyers than sellers.  Accordingly, it stands to reason that Ducks GM Pat Verbeek would be able to elicit a strong return for McTavish’s services despite how things ended this season.

McTavish would certainly be a viable fit for the Rangers.  A team that’s at least retooling, adding a 23-year-old pivot fits the timeline as someone who can help now and a few years down the road when they’re ideally trying to flip the switch to try to contend again as he will still be under contract at that time.

On top of that, McTavish profiles as a logical replacement for center Vincent Trocheck.  The veteran is widely expected to be on the move after not being dealt away at the trade deadline.  Knowing that they could have a capable pivot lined up to replace him in McTavish, that could help push a Trocheck swap across the finish line, assuming that one isn’t being traded for the other.

McTavish and Trocheck are two of the more intriguing centers who could be moved in the coming days and weeks.  We’ll see soon enough if one moving ultimately leads to the other being swapped as well.