Toropchenko played several years of professional hockey in Russia before signing with the Hartford Whalers on September 11, 1992.
Because of an NHL rule where professional overseas players had to be drafted in order to play in the National Hockey League, Toropchenko did not make the final Whalers' roster and was assigned to their AHL affiliate in Springfield on 24 September 1992.
After attending Penguins' training camp in 1993 (where he scored a goal during a preseason game vs the Toronto Maple Leafs)[3] and 1994 and being demoted to Muskegon of the Colonial Hockey League,[4] Toropchenko did not report.
Torpochenko finished his career in the Vysshaya Hokkeinaya Liga, splitting his time between four different teams from 1998 until his retirement in 2002.
Toropchenko was named Massachusetts' first ever "Deadbeat Of The Month", a program started in February 1998 by Acting Governor Paul Cellucci.