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Oilers' defenseman improves roster considerably
Photo credit: USA Today Sports
The 5'10", 184-pound defenseman Troy Stecher may be considered small by NHL standards, but what the Oilers have seen from him since coming over from Arizona is that his compete level is nothing short of massive, and has made the defense better.
Troy signed a 2-year deal with the Oilers July 1, 2024, at a cap hit of $787K, and has earned every penny of it.
"He is impressive the way that he plays with so much heart," writer David Staples said. "He does everything that he possibly can to help our team. He plays a hard game, blocks shots. He's just a guy that will literally do anything possible to help our team win.»
In fact, when he was paired with Darnell Nurse in last year's playoffs, he actually improved Nurse's performance considerably.
Yet, their heir strong chemistry isn't new - it carried over from the regular season.
Among their solid advanced metrics, one that stands out the most is that, with a minimum of 250 minutes played together, the Nurse-Stecher pairing posted a 60.40% high-danger chances for percentage at 5v5, which ranked fifth best among all defensive pairings in the entire league in the regular season.
According to ,i>Natural Stat Trick in a limited sample of four playoff games and just over 48 minutes played together, Nurse's numbers improve noticeably when paired with Stecher.
• Nurse has a 42.47% Corsi without Stecher, which increases to 55.68% when playing with him.
• Nurse's expected goals for percentage (xGF%) is 54.11% without Stecher, rising to 65.39% with Stecher.
• Nurse's scoring chances for percentage is 44.12% without Stecher, increasing to 64.52% when paired with him.
• Nurse's high-danger chances for percentage is 42.11% without Stecher, jumping to 66.67% with Stecher.
• Nurse's expected goals for percentage (xGF%) is 54.11% without Stecher, rising to 65.39% with Stecher.
• Nurse's scoring chances for percentage is 44.12% without Stecher, increasing to 64.52% when paired with him.
• Nurse's high-danger chances for percentage is 42.11% without Stecher, jumping to 66.67% with Stecher.
Troy Stecher is the type of player that makes his team better because of the effort with which he plays; it's contagious and teammates appreciate it as much as the fans.
| POLL | ||
AOUT 30 | 326 ANSWERS Oilers' defenseman improves roster considerably Will Troy Stecher make the Oilers' roster in 2025-26? | ||
| yes | 252 | 77.3 % |
| no | 74 | 22.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
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