Maple Leafs trade for Ryan Lasch + 7th round pick; Dave Steckel traded to Ducks

by Declan Kerin on March 15, 2013 in Leafs News - 570 Comments

Ryan Lasch

Photo: iltasanomat.fi

The Toronto Maple Leafs have traded David Steckel to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for right-winger Ryan Lasch and the Ducks’ seventh-round pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. Ryan Lasch will report to the Toronto Marlies.

The move clears a roster spot off the Leafs for the imminent return of Joffrey Lupul, who has been cleared for contact and says he’s ready for tomorrow’s tilt versus the Jets. The Marlies meanwhile have a depleted lineup with six Marlies now on the Leafs, a seventh coming (Gardiner) and their top scorer (Aucoin) being claimed off waivers. This is a step in helping them repair the depth of that team as they prepare for the playoffs, and adds a body up front after flipping Nicolas Deschamps for a defenceman in Kevin Marshall yesterday. The Marlies are currently 1st in their division.

Quote from TSN:

“Adding David Steckel gives us another big body and depth up the middle,” said Ducks general manager Bob Murray. “He comes highly recommended from Bruce (Boudreau). Faceoffs have been something of a concern for us the last few seasons. Steckel is a tremendous faceoff man and penalty killer, something that will really help our club.”

From Hockey’s Future

History

Was the only underclassmen named as one of the Hobey Baker finalists in 2008. He is also just the third St. Cloud State player to be named a finalist in the program’s history, joining Mark Hartigan and Bobby Goepfert.

2007-08: He led the Huskies with 53 points (25 goals, 28 assists) in 40 games this season. His 53 points ranks fourth in the nation and leads all WCHA players. Lasch is a two-time WCHA Player of the Week honoree this season and ended the regular season as the WCHA scoring champion with 34 points (17 goals, 17 assists) in league play. He was also named to the All-WCHA First Team. Most recently, the sophomore sensation led St. Cloud State to their second consecutive and seventh overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament before falling to third-seeded Clarkson in the East Regional semi-final on Saturday to officially end the season.

2008-09: Lasch was the second-leading scorer for St. Cloud State as a junior. He scored 18 goals with 24 assists and was an even plus/minus with 52 penalty minutes in 38 games for the Huskies. St. Cloud State was right around .500 for much of the season before winning 6 of 9 games late in the season. The Huskies finished sixth in the WCHA and fell to Minnesota in the first round of the league tournament.

2009-10: Lasch shared the team lead in goals and points with Kings 2008 draft pick Garrett Roe in his senior season at St. Cloud State as the Huskies were one of the top teams in college hockey and reached the WCHA championship game. Both Lasch and Roe scored 20 goals with 29 assists. Lasch scored 8 of his 20 goals on the power play and was minus-10 with 26 penalty minutes in 43 games. The Huskies, after finishing third in the regular season, won three straight tournament games to reach the WCHA championship game and defeated Northern Michigan in double overtime before falling to Wisconsin in the NCAA West region. Lasch scored 1 goal with 2 assists and was minus-one in the two NCAA games.

2010-11: Lasch headed to Europe for his first pro season and skated for Sodertalje in Sweden’s Elitserien. He was Sodertalje’s second-leading scorer behind one-time Avalanche prospect Linus Videll; scoring 12 goals with 18 assists and finishing minus-16 with 40 penalty minutes in 55 games. Sodertalje finished 11th in the 12-team league and was relegated to AllSvenskan after finishing third in the six-team Kval series. Lasch was the leading scorer for Sodertalje in the Kval series – scoring 4 goals with 5 assists in 10 games and was plus-one with 6 penalty minutes.

2011-12: Ryan Lasch was the leading scorer for the much-improved Pelicans in Finland’s SM-Liiga and skated for the USA in the 2012 IIHF World Championship. Lasch scored 24 goals with 38 assists in 59 games and was plus-13 with 26 penalty minutes. The Lahti-based club went from last place the previous season to second – and reached the Kanada Cup playoff finals. Lasch led all SM-Liiga scorers in the playoffs with 5 goals and 11 assists in 17 games and was plus-four with 29 penalty minutes. Lasch joined Team USA in Helsinki for the World Championship and appeared in seven games; finishing minus-one with 2 assists. The USA finished seventh in the tournament. Lasch signed a two-year, two-way contract with Anaheim in May 2012.

Talent Analysis

St. Cloud State head coach Bob Motzko’s comments on Lasch: “He really works hard and battles just as hard in the classroom now as he does on the ice. There’s no question that he is the go-to guy on our team, but Ryan is also an unbelievable playmaker. He’s got an unbelievable knack for putting the puck on his teammates’ tape. A lot of nights it’s very subtle but he’s great at it.”

Ryan Lasch Stats

Follow him on twitter (https://twitter.com/lascher19)

Further reading at The Hockey Writers:

Ryan Lasch Continues To Silence His Critics

Tags: Anaheim, Finland, NCAA, Ryan Lasch, SM-Liiga, St. Cloud State player, Sweden, United States, Western Collegiate Hockey Association Print article