TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — When it looked like Will Cuylle wasn’t just going to stay with the New York Rangers for a quick cup of coffee to start this season, Vincent Trocheck pulled the 22-year-old forward aside.
“I just didn’t want him living at the hotel for a long time, that’s not a fun thing to do,” Trocheck said. “I just said, ‘If you need a place to stay, you’re welcome at our place.’
“He was over within the hour.”
It’s a time-honored tradition in the NHL: Rookies bunking in the spare bedroom or guest house of a veteran. Sidney Crosby may be the most famous rookie houseguest, invited to stay with Mario Lemieux during Crosby’s first season with the Penguins. It happens often enough that there are guys who have been the guest and the host, like Matt Moulson.
Moulson was already 25 and no longer a rookie when he and his kid brother’s youth hockey friend, John Tavares, were invited to stay in the guest house at Doug Weight’s place in 2009 with the New York Islanders. But it was still an eye-opener for Moulson, who was engaged to his wife, Alicia, at the time but not yet putting down roots since he’d bounced around the Los Angeles Kings organization for the previous three years.
“When you’re young you come home from doing all the stuff you do at the…
