The Maple Leafs dipped into the waiver pool for some right-shot defense help, claiming the 5’10, 183-pound Troy Stecher from the Edmonton Oilers.
Stecher carries a fully buriable $787,500 contract that expires at season’s end (UFA).
GM Brad Treliving has familiarity with the 31-year-old BC native from their time together in Calgary, which lasted only 20 games (in 2022-23) but included seven points from Stecher. Back in 2017-2019, Stecher was a near-20-minute-per-night, 20+ point defenseman on a struggling team in hometown Vancouver, where he broke the league as an undrafted college free agent signing. A well-traveled journeyman in the seasons since (stops in Detroit, Arizona, LA, Calgary), Stecher’s ice time has slipped all the way down to 13-14 minutes in his last two years in Edmonton. Stecher didn’t play a part in the Oilers’ 2024 run to the finals but did appear in eight playoff games last spring, going pointless but staying above water in goals at five-on-five (3-1).
This is by no means a game-changing addition — few waiver claims are — but it was a logical, risk-free add for the Leafs. The team is without Chris Tanev (specific timeline unknown), now Brandon Carlo (day-to-day), and was already running five lefties on their blue line — with OEL and McCabe on their offside — as Philippe Myers has mightily struggled when in the lineup.
A veteran right-handed shot option with a significant NHL body of work, Matt Benning, is currently injured with the Marlies. Henry Thrun is left-handed. The Leafs‘ best option in the AHL, as far as a right-shot puck mover specifically, is William Villeneuve, who has taken notable strides developmentally in the last year. Still, it would be asking a lot to throw him into the fire for an NHL debut and expect a run of NHL service from him at this point.
As a unit, the Leafs’ blue line group is struggling to move pucks cleanly out of their zone or play with enough pace, as Craig Berube alluded to regarding the team’s issues advancing pucks up the ice after the most recent loss to the Kings:
Berube: For me, it’s confidence, a little bit, and puck play. The plays are there, but we are not making them and aren’t seeing them well enough right now.
We have to pick up our pace. We have to be more confident in those plays. To me, that’s the difference in the game.
Stecher doesn’t fit the Treliving defenseman stereotype size-wise, and his dimensions limit him defensively. But the Leafs‘ GM has had him before, and despite his stature, Stecher is an admirable competitor who won’t back down, dropping the gloves six times in his NHL career.
Stecher can’t be relied on for significant minutes or be expected to single-handedly resolve the team’s breakout problems. But he provides a third-pair right-handed option who can bring mobility and puck movement off the backend. Treliving poked around the defense market in search of added mobility and puck-moving help this past summer but didn’t make any additions of note, only flipping Ryan Reaves for Thrun. Almost certainly, Treliving now regrets not getting more meaningfully involved in the free agent and trade markets for help in this area, although injuries can’t be predicted, and it wasn’t an out-there notion to bet on the continuity of the Leafs‘ solid six-man unit from last season. Stecher doesn’t satisfy the larger need here necessarily, but he’s an upgrade on Myers and could help as a stopgap for the time being.
