EDMONTON — Troy Stecher entered the vacant dressing room huffing and puffing after his first full practice with the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.
Acquired last Thursday in a trade with the Arizona Coyotes, Stecher was unable to make it to Buffalo in time for the team’s on-ice session the next day. He skated on his own Saturday morning before watching his new team play a pair of afternoon road games in Western New York and then in Pittsburgh on Sunday. The Oilers enjoyed the day off on Monday after returning from the road.
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So, naturally, Stecher wanted to get a little extra work in on Tuesday — so much so that all his teammates were long gone and pulled into meetings when he walked into the room breathing heavily, his hair sopping wet.
“My job is to come in here and push the D corps to be better,” Stecher said.
The 5-foot-10, 184-pound pending UFA blueliner seems to know what’s up.
Already scratched for his first two games as an Oiler, it’ll soon be three straight for Stecher — barring an unexpected illness or the like from a defenceman.
Coach Kris Knoblauch said the 29-year-old won’t make his Oilers debut on Wednesday versus Washington as he continues to prefer the same regular six rearguards he’s used almost exclusively. However, the plan is to get Stecher into a game “very quickly” either in a six- or seven-blueliner scheme.
The Oilers’ next game after Wednesday is against Colorado on Saturday and then they’re off until next Tuesday when they host Montreal.
“The more I see him, the more I’m going to get familiar with him and comfortable. I know that if we need him to go in the lineup, he’s going to provide something and be a good addition,” Knoblauch said. “He is smaller, but he does move well, and he is competitive. He will fight and get those loose pucks. The other thing is how well he moves the puck.
“You can never have enough defencemen who can make that first pass and provide a little offence, get involved in the rush.”
Once Stecher caught his breath, he spoke to The Athletic about slowly adapting to his new surroundings and how he can make an impact with his new Stanley Cup-contending team even if opportunities are limited.
How have you found it here so far?
(Monday) was my first day here — and it was a day off — so, it’s not like I’m at the rink with the guys. You’re popping on your own time to get a lay of the land and try to make the most of it.
But I’m excited to be here. It’s a great opportunity, and I’m going to try to make everything a positive.
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Of all places: Edmonton. You played for Vancouver. You played for Calgary. You played in the playoffs against these guys for L.A. It seems like a pretty weird set of circumstances for this to be the team.
(Laughs.) You’re not the first one to say it. I don’t really view it that way.
During this season, I was a Coyote. I don’t think of myself as an ex-King or an ex-Flame. I play for the Coyotes. My mindset’s like, “I play for Arizona.” Now, you quickly shift and it’s like, “I play for the Oilers.” This is my team.
You do a little background check. You look at the standings and the personnel and you get excited for the opportunity you have to join the group and help them achieve something that you’ve always wanted to achieve.
Is it weird to say, “I’m an Oiler” given your past experiences?
I guess, but it’s only a few days, right? (Laughs.) It’s new. But I’m excited to be an Oiler. I’ll put it that way.
Were you surprised that it was Edmonton? How did you find out you were getting traded here?
I took morning skate in Arizona, and I was walking back across the parking lot to our facility. Our team service guy picked me up in a golf cart and drove me to the GM’s office. I had maybe a 30-second meeting with (Bill Armstrong), and he told me he traded me to Edmonton. He wished me the best of luck and said it was a great opportunity. I walked out the room and saw 20 pro scouts and their whole department. I said goodbye to all of them.
Next thing you know you’re on six different phone calls with people from Edmonton. You call your family as quickly as you can and let them know that you know things are going to be changing here pretty quick. You throw a suitcase together and you get to the airport as quick as you can.
I don’t think you really process much until you’re on the plane. You’re in such a panic of trying to get ready that it doesn’t really hit you until you have a moment to breathe. I was so excited when I had that chance to finally calm down, take a deep breath and realize like the situation. I was like, “Holy s—. I’m going to a team with Cup aspirations.”
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Throughout my career, on an individual level, I played in the bubble, I played with L.A. in the playoffs — and we lost these guys in the first round — so I have some experience. But I wouldn’t say a lot. Just understanding the situation I’m coming to; this is by far my best opportunity to win. So, quickly you shift your mindset to being like, “I’ll do whatever I can to, first off, help these guys in this room, second off, help the coaching staff.”
You just want to be a positive influence. You don’t want to come in here and disrupt the room or piss somebody off. More than anything, you’re just trying to be a people pleaser.
This team has had the same six defencemen playing almost all season. They like their six. Kris Knoblauch said he’s going to try to get you in, but he has to figure out how to do that. Does it make it a bit more challenging to be a great teammate when you’re trying to find your role on the team and fight for ice time, too?
Not really. It actually sums up my career. Undrafted, undersized defenceman — I’ve always been doubted.
I don’t want to say this the wrong way, but I feel like every season I’ve achieved more than what the organization I played for would probably expect out of myself. I’m not saying that I’m a top-level guy; I know what I am in this league. But I do take a lot of pride in the way I go about my business and the way I conduct myself. The biggest part of saying that is, whenever my opportunity comes, I know I’m going to be ready to play — and I know I can be a positive impact on this team.
Right now, I don’t want to disrupt this room. They got something great going. If I’m pushing the D corps to be better, and they’re pushing themselves, then that’s just going to make our whole team better — which is good for everybody. And if someone goes down or they make a change, then at least I know I put my best foot forward to be ready for that opportunity.
The perfect example would be L.A. I didn’t play Games 1, 2 or 3 (against the Oilers in 2022), and then I play Games 4, 5, 6 and 7. You can look at my stats, man. I had four points in four games. That was pretty good for myself in the playoffs.
If you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready. That’s a saying I live by.
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When you can play — when you do get in — what, ideally, are you bringing to this team?
Well, the past couple years, I’ve really struggled offensively. I’m not shy to say that. (Note: Stecher has five goals and 22 points in 157 games since the end of the 2021 season.) When you get into contract negotiations, you need numbers. That’s how you get paid. It’s frustrating to understand I’m not putting up numbers.
But the other side of it, I look at the way I transition the puck through the neutral zone or the way I defend. My numbers this year were really, really good. It can be a flawed stat at times, but like I take a lot of pride in my plus/minus — especially playing Arizona. We were a minus-30 (goal) differential, and I was a positive player (plus-5). I knew when I was going out there, I was making a positive impact. That’s my mindset here with Edmonton.
If I get that chance to play, I need to do whatever I can to make sure I’m having a positive impact. I might not be scoring goals — I think we score enough goals here — but that might be making sure that puck over the blue line (in the defensive zone), so then five guys have a tag up. It seems so small, but it has such a big factor.
You mentioned the goal scoring here. It seems like you know this team pretty well then.
(Laughs.) Yeah, I’ve played against them a lot — four years in Vancouver, a stint in Calgary, a stint in L.A. I’ve played in the Pacific a lot. I’m just so excited to be here. It’s a good opportunity.
It’s really cool being able to call these guys teammates now. I’ve had some battles with a lot of them.
I’m sure it’s no fun to play against some of them.
No. (Laughs.) There’s a lot of nights where it’s like, “All right, 97 and 29 are on the ice. Let’s get off.” (Laughs.) It’s nice to be on their team for once.
I’ve got to ask. This is the third straight deadline that you’ve been dealt. From what you’ve said it sounds like such a whirlwind when it happens. But does it ever get any easier having gone through it a couple of times?
I don’t know. It’s such a loaded question. I’ll just speak honestly; I’m not scared to talk in the media. With the salary cap, I understand I’m a guy that has a lower cap hit where teams can get me under their cap number. I’m a guy that can play well at his cap hit.
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Does it suck getting traded? Of course. But at the same time, you’ve got to look at the other way. It’s like, I guess you’re wanted — in a sense — where you bring value.
It sounds like the ideal pickup for a team.
Yeah, I could have crumbled pretty easily, but I look at the positives and I take it as a compliment. I’m excited to be here. I’ll be ready as I can for my first game. Hopefully these guys can keep winning. It’s a lot of fun being on a winning team than losing one.
(Photo: Isaiah J. Downing / USA Today)
