The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed Troy Stecher to a two-year extension worth $1.35 million per season.
Claimed off waivers last November, Stecher quickly became a fan favourite as a heart-on-his-sleeve player who is also well spoken and incredibly easy to cheer for.
At the time he was claimed, he was a complete breath of fresh air for the team, offering much-needed mobility and puck-handling ability on the Leafs‘ blue line. During his first few months in particular, he played legitimately well, putting up 10 points in his first 28 games as a Leaf while averaging 20:27 per night.
For long stretches, he formed a reasonably solid pairing alongside Jake McCabe, taking on tough matchups and winning their minutes 17-16 while posting respectable underlying numbers given the circumstances — difficult competition, tough zone starts, and nearly breaking even in expected goals.
In fact, as the Leafs‘ season fell apart, one thing we constantly harped on was that they split that pairing up and pushed Stecher down the lineup in favour of underperforming veterans who seemingly received minutes based on stature and salary rather than performance.
In fairness, Stecher did eventually fade down the stretch, which wasn’t too surprising because he’s already 32 and has established himself in the league for what he is: a solid depth defender capable of moving the puck, playing with pace, and winning his minutes.
He actively outplayed Brandon Carlo, who they just traded away, and now they’ve retained Stecher as a cheaper right-shot defender who can offer much more with the puck and offensively in general, along with stronger overall 5-on-5 play, even if he isn’t as good defensively or on the penalty kill.
When the Leafs traded Carlo, we noted that they sold fairly low. Ultimately, they ended up netting two third-round picks and effectively signing Stecher for nearly one-third of the cost. It’s slightly surprising that the Leafs gave him two years rather than paying a little more on a one-year deal, but it’s not a prohibitive number worth worrying about. They could bury almost the entire contract if it really came to that.
Anecdotally, I’ll also add that I enjoyed having Stecher’s competitiveness in this group, along with his willingness to step in front of a microphone and speak passionately about the team, the market, and whatever was happening on the ice. It’s important, especially in this market, to have a few players who can genuinely connect with the fan base. The Leafs have generally lacked that for years and, if anything, have gone in the opposite direction. As a fun aside, Chris Tanev called Stecher one of his best friends, but they never got to play together here because of Tanev’s injury. Now, you’d like to think, they will.
With the Leafs qualifying Emil Andrae, they now have seven defensemen in the mix. That leaves no room for any of the Marlies defensemen — particularly William Villeneuve or, potentially, even Ben Danford at some point — when everyone is healthy. Presumably, they also want to give Andrae a legitimate opportunity rather than bouncing him around. Signing Stecher doesn’t necessarily bump anyone out of the top six, but it does feel like there could be more work to come.
I’d consider Stecher a very solid No. 7 defenseman, but considering five of the Leafs’ defensemen are over 30, chances are someone is always going to be hurt, and he’s going to play a lot of games. There was no need to overthink this or look elsewhere for another veteran to fill this role. Stecher was good here (relatively speaking), the contract is cheap, he’s a good cultural fit, and he’s relatively low maintenance. Other than potentially blocking a younger player from the Marlies, there’s really nothing to fuss about here.
