NHL star reveals he had a brutal bacterial lung infection during season: 'I thought I was dying'

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New York Rangers star center Vincent Trocheck had a harrowing health scare early in the season.

Trocheck, 32, revealed to reporters that his 14-game absence at the start of the season was due to a bacterial infection in his lungs.

"I had some viral bacteria get into my lung and wasn’t sure what it was. This happened, I think, before the first game of the year. I thought I was just having back spasms, and then I played the first game," Trocheck said.

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New York Rangers center Vincent Trocheck skates against the Washington Capitals during the second period at Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y., April 5, 2026. (Danny Wild/Imagn Images)

"Got a little bit worse. Played in Buffalo. I got a cross-check right in that area, and 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. I had a lot of fluid around my lung, so I had to have surgery to get the fluid removed."

The two-time All-Star said he had chest tubes inserted and was in the hospital for about a week. He called it weird and wouldn’t call it an injury.

"It was very scary. I thought I was dying," Trocheck said.

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New York Rangers center Vincent Trocheck skates against the Washington Capitals during the second period at Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y., April 5, 2026. (Danny Wild/Imagn Images)

Trocheck, who starred on the penalty kill for Team USA during the Olympics and its gold medal run, said no one knows how the fluid emerged.

The Pittsburgh native