Although not much more than a bottom four defenceman, Troy Stecher was a bit of a fan favourite during his time in Vancouver. His hustle, hometown status, and never-say-die attitude combined with a strong two-way game and signing with the Canucks out of college during a dark time for the franchise made him an easy player to root for.
Stecher has just wrapped up his final season with the Arizona Coyotes after signing a one-year deal with the club last summer. Stecher was traded to the Calgary Flames ahead of the March 3rd trade deadline, and finished his season by putting up three goals and four assists through 20 games played with the Flames. He now enters this summer the same way he did last summer: as an unrestricted free agent.
“Troy from Richmond” as he’s known around these parts, made an appearance on Thursday’s edition of Donnie and Dhali — The Team.
Stecher reflected on his time playing for the recently fired Darryl Sutter in Calgary, and was quick to defend the now-former bench boss amid reports that multiple Flames players expressed their displeasure with Sutter during exit interviews.
“It was great, I actually really enjoyed playing for him. He’s a really well-respected coach. He’s had a ton of success around the NHL, dating back to even his time in Calgary I think he was the coach and GM in their ’04 run and obviously he won the Stanley Cup with LA and he was a player back in the day. He was someone that I came into, kind of heard a lot of different things from some of the players there that were former teammates, and he was someone I respected. He was a coach I liked playing for, he was kind of my style of coach. We got along great so obviously it’s tough to see him go but it’s part of the business.”
Stecher expanded on that “my style of coach” comment further.
“I don’t think it’s a surprise that I’m not an offensive defenseman, natural stay at home defenceman, not gonna be a superstar. I feel like I’m a good supporting piece and a depth player. I’m a player that works hard and keeps my mouth shut and he’s a coach that really respects that and expects the best out of you. If you’re gonna pout and you’re gonna complain, which I don’t think I do as an individual, then you’re obviously going to hear from him. So he’s someone that I respect with the fact that if you work hard, he’s going to give you an opportunity and that’s exactly what he gave me in Calgary. He gave me a great opportunity to play an important role for our team on the third pair and play a lot of meaningful minutes so I really enjoyed my time with him.”
The Canucks called Stecher’s agent last summer, trying to bring the defenceman back for a reunion. Given that this is the same management regime that made that call, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise for the Canucks to come calling again on July 1st. Stecher didn’t show his cards too much when asked about a potential reunion with his hometown Canucks.
“I don’t know, we’ll see,” said Stecher. “Obviously that’s something I leave to my agent. Him and I will obviously have our discussions in the offseason, which we’ve already begun, just kind of doing a recap of my year and moving forward we’ll do some more research on teams and what they need as personnel and opportunity where they are as an organization going forward, if they’re winning culture, or if they’re in a rebuilding phase, and whatever we see as the best fit is the decision we’ll make.”
Watch the full interview with Stecher below!
More must-reads: