Edmonton Oilers acquire defenceman Troy Stecher from Coyotes

The moves keep coming for the Edmonton Oilers, picking up defenceman Troy Stecher from the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday.

Stecher, 29, broke into the NHL as an NCAA free agent signee with the Vancouver Canucks, where he spent the first four years of his career between 2016 and 2020. Since then, however, Stecher has bounced between a number of teams, including stints in Detroit, Los Angeles, Calgary and, most recently, Arizona. This year, he’s appeared in 47 games with the Coyotes scoring one goal and five points.

News of the trade was first reported by Jordan Schmaltz, and later confirmed by other reports. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Oilers are also acquiring a seventh-round pick this year, while sending a fourth-round pick in 2027 back to Arizona. No salary was retained in the deal.

While Stecher, a right-shot, isn’t a big defenceman standing at 5’10, 184 lbs., he profiles as a great depth defenceman. This season, he’s provided offence at a league-average rate, and defence and penalty kill at two percent rates above league average, according to hockeyviz.com. Those contributions equate to that of a high-end second-pairing defenceman.

He’s often found himself on the outside looking in at many of his stops in the NHL, but The Athletic’s Thomas Drance, who covers the Canucks, opined that the defenceman “being like new NHL Andrew Ference.”

“Because of his size, his teams always try to build enough depth to push him down the lineup,” Drance wrote. “Because he’s good and a warrior, he always ends up playing a bigger role than the club intended. Really nice add for Edmonton.”

Stecher, a pending unrestricted free agent, carries a $1.1-million cap hit with him.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.

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