This is the 2025-26 edition — an archived read. Read the 2026-27 report →
Troy Stecher
Edmonton Oilers Defense
5-10, 66 games, 7 points, and a seventh defenceman who played like a sixth.
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GW | S | S% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-17 | VAN | 71 | 3 | 21 | 24 | -16 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 125 | 2.4 | 19:59 |
| 2017-18 | VAN | 68 | 1 | 10 | 11 | -7 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 94 | 1.1 | 18:49 |
| 2018-19 | VAN | 78 | 2 | 21 | 23 | +9 | 32 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 105 | 1.9 | 19:55 |
| 2019-20 | VAN | 69 | 5 | 12 | 17 | +10 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 86 | 5.8 | 15:21 |
| 2020-21 | DET | 44 | 3 | 8 | 11 | -13 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 55 | 5.5 | 17:19 |
| 2021-22 | DET/LAK | 29 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -7 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 2.0 | 16:40 |
| 2022-23 | ARI/CGY | 81 | 3 | 11 | 14 | -6 | 44 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 88 | 3.4 | 16:22 |
| 2023-24 | ARI/EDM | 54 | 1 | 6 | 7 | +9 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 2.0 | 18:07 |
| 2024-25 | EDM | 66 | 3 | 4 | 7 | -2 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 55 | 5.5 | 13:52 |
| 2025-26 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 560 | 22 | 95 | 117 | -23 | 252 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 709 | 3.1 | 17:27 |
This Season So Far
The 2025-26 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.
Last Season
3 goals and 4 assists in 66 games for 7 points, minus-2, on 13:52 a night.
49.5 per cent at five-on-five, the 46th percentile, over 822 minutes. His on-ice goals were 46-34 against an expected 34-34, which is 12 goals of finishing in his favour.
The Finesse Game
Modest. 55 shots in 66 games and 3 goals, and 4 assists — there is essentially no offensive contribution.
The first pass is quick and safe and he does not panic under a forecheck, which is the job.
The Physical Game
5-10 and 184, and small. He does not clear a net front and cannot win a battle by force, and he blocks shots willingly and takes the punishment.
27 penalty minutes over 66 games. He is beaten physically often enough that the stick comes out.
The Intangibles
Undrafted, five organisations, and a decade of being a serviceable depth defenceman.
At 31 the projection is a seventh defenceman who plays 50 games. On a club with genuine depth on the blue line, that is the correct role.
The numbers underneath
On the ice
Five-on-five, 2024-25 · 822 minutes
- Expected goals
- 49.5%
- 46th pct
- Shot attempts
- 47.9%
- 31st pct
share of the chances while he was out there
share of the attempts while he was out there
Goals while he was on the ice: 46 for, 34 against. Expected: 33.8 and 34.4.
The eye and the numbers
HindsightThe numbers rank him 32 points above where the report does. It was written for a back edition, with the seasons that followed already known. Neither the agreement nor the gap says anything about the eye, and this report is excluded from the club-level comparison for the same reason. Why the numbers land there sets out the club he did it on, the minutes he played and the men he played them with.
Both bars are percentiles among the 357 skaters in this edition with a report and enough ice time. The report bar ranks the mean of the grades above — 65 on their own scale — against every other report's mean. The numbers bar ranks his share of expected goals. A gap is a disagreement about where he belongs, not two scales talking past each other.
Usual linemates
2024-25 · 822 minutes at five-on-five
- Ty Emberson20%
- Brett Kulak15%
Share of his five-on-five ice time spent alongside each player, measured from shift charts. Special teams are excluded: a power-play unit is not a line.
Why the numbers land there
Five-on-five, 2024-25
- The club
- EDM took 54.3% of the expected goals as a club. His own share is 49.5% — 4.8 below the club he did it on.
- The role
- Third pair, 822 minutes at five-on-five — 38th percentile in ice time.
With and without
| Teammate | Together | Him apart | Mate apart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Darnell Nurse | 51.8% | 46.3% | 54.2% |
| Adam Henrique | 46.9% | 51.0% | 48.6% |
| Connor Brown | 45.3% | 51.4% | 52.4% |
51.8% together, 46.3% for him apart and 54.2% for Nurse apart. He was worse away from Nurse, who was no better away from him — he needed that pairing more than Nurse did.
Expected-goal share while both were on the ice, and for each man in the minutes he played without the other. Apart is the pair subtracted from his own totals. It does not settle who was carrying whom — apart from each other, both were still playing with somebody — but it does say whether the share travelled when the pairing broke up.
Where he shoots from
goal on goal missed
77 unblocked shots in 2024-25, 3 of them goals. His median goal came from 45 feet. 5% of his shots came from inside twenty feet, 75% from beyond forty.