There are openings on the right side of the Oilers defence now that Vinnie Desharnais, Cody Ceci and Philip Broberg have all moved on.
Troy Stecher, 30, is finally bringing his ‘A’ game and looks like he just might seize this opportunity.
Against Seattle in Saturday night’s 5-4 exhibition win, Stecher looked like a decent NHL d-man, even a solid one. He was fast to pucks. He won a good share of his puck battles. He moved the puck well. He defended smartly and effectively. He even threw a few decent hits, even as he’s not a big player, just 5-feet, 10-inches, 184 pounds.
He’s finally showing why he’s been able to log almost 500 games in the NHL to date.
By my eye, Stecher never looked right for the Oilers after they acquired him and a 7th round pick for a 4th round pick from the Arizona Coyotes last March. Stecher played seven games for the Oilers, but not one in the playoffs as he was sidelined with a cyst in his ankle. He had surgery to deal with the injury in the summer and the Oilers brought him back on a new two-year deal at the league minimum of $787,500.
He did not play well in his March and April 2024 games for the Oilers. He lacked his trademark zest, both in terms of battling for the puck and moving quickly to defend or retrieve pucks. Perhaps the ankle injury was the culprit. I can’t say I was bullish on Stecher’s chances to help the Oilers this year.
But he looks to be back to playing his best hockey.
Against Seattle, Stecher most definitely looked like he can get the job done for the Oilers in the first part of the season and that may well be enough for him to win the job as Brett Kulak’s partner to open the season. If he keeps playing as well as he did against Seattle, he may just stick around longer term.
Other Oilers were also battling hard to win a job. Here’s brief summary of what I saw from each.
- Phil Kemp had good and bad moments. Got caught out a few times as he was a step behind the play.
- Raphael Lavoie. Another player finally bringing his best game and looking like a possible NHLer. Is putting together his best streak of games in an Oilers jersey. He’s winning board battles and firing pucks on net. Late in the third he battled hard to get to the net and pounded in the winning goal on a wicked shot. He was named second star in the game.
- Ben Gleason. He looks cool and sharp every time he has the puck. Rushed into the o-zone early in the third and deftly set up Mattias Ekholm in the slot for a shot off the crossbar. He’s no Kris Russell in his own zone, but he can move the puck. If Gleason was a right shot and not a left shot, he’d have a much greater chance to stick. He looks like he could hold his own in a bottom-pairing in the NHL.
- Noah Philp. While thwarting a dangerous chance around the net, he bumped into goalie Calvin Pickard, and Pickard was knocked out of the game. He was not seen on the bench for the rest of the game, which could be bad news for the Oilers. Philp made a number of solid plays on the puck, especially a rush up the middle to take a Mattias Ekholm pass and direct it into the top of the net for a goal. He was third star in the game.
- Matt Savoie. Quiet game to start but looked good on a few shifts with McDavid. One excellent shot on net off a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins feed. Another dangerous shot on the McDavid line in the third.
- Travis Dermott. Quiet game as well, though that’s OK for a d-man. He made no major miscues and executed all the expected plays.
- Olivier Rodrigue. Made some decent saves in relief of Pickard, but didn’t look great on two of Seattle’s second period goals. He made a huge save off a one-timer in the third with the score tied. He got better as the game went on.
- Sam O’Reilly
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