Due to his size, Tory Stecher was never given the benefit of the doubt. He’s always had to prove he could defend. He spent his 16-18 years old seasons playing Junior A with the Penticton Vees. He produced 42 points in 53 games in his first year of NHL draft eligibility. He wasn’t drafted. He tallied 47 points the following season, but still wasn’t picked. He went to North Dakota to play for the Fighting Hawks. After three seasons in college, he left and on April 13th, 2016, signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Vancouver Canucks.

He attended his first training camp that fall and played four preseason games before being sent down to Utica. His stay in the American League was brief. He played four games before being recalled on October 24th. He made his NHL debut the next night vs. Ottawa, and Stecher has remained in the NHL ever since. He beat the odds.

The small, undrafted defenseman has now played 494 NHL games. He’s played the 71st-most games among NHL defenders since the start of the 2016-17 season. Stecher has played the seventh-most games among undrafted NHL defenseman in that time trailing only Brenden Dillon (607), Mark Giordano (556), Torey Krug (537), Nate Schmidt (521), Trevor van Riemsdyk (501) and Chris Tanev (497).

Stecher is currently 92nd all time in games played by undrafted defenseman, sandwiched between former Oilers Marc-Andre Bergeron (492) and Norm MacIver (501). Stecher has carved out quite the unexpected NHL career. But much of his career has been on underachieving or unskilled teams, and that was the main reason he opted to re-sign with the Oilers this summer.

I spoke with Stecher in the hallway of the downtown community rink before they left for their final two preseason road games in Seattle and Vancouver. Stecher is in a battle with Ty Emberson, Josh Brown and even Travis Dermott for a spot on the Oilers right defense. Evan Bouchard will be the first pair RD, but the battle to play in the second pair with Darnell Nurse and the third pair with Brett Kulak is wide open. No one has emerged as a front runner thus far, and while Stecher has yet to play with either Nurse or Kulak this preseason, he’s patiently biding his time.

We discussed the competition, his path to the NHL, why he signed in Edmonton and where he feels he can contribute.

Troy Stetcher: I’m just kind of focused on myself right now and making sure I’m putting my best foot forward and giving my best effort every single day. At the end of the day whatever’s going to help the team win is what I want to do. I think, not to change your question, but I think you look at the offseason a lot of guys took less. I’m not one of those guys by any means, but I definitely wanted to be a part of this culture and be a part of this team.

So, whether I’m in the lineup or not, I’m going to come to the rink every day with a purpose, give my best effort and try to help this team win.

Stetcher: I think it’s a two-part question. Not to throw shade at any other organization I’ve been on, but this is by far the best team I’ve been on. I think like my first three years in Vancouver we weren’t very good and the bubble year we had a run, but even then, we weren’t in a playoff spot when the season ended, and we ended up winning the play-in. Then I go to Detroit, and we were rebuilding and got traded to LA.

So, I had a little kick of the can there in the playoffs, but like Detroit wasn’t an opportunity to win and Arizona obviously we were rebuilding. So being a part of this organization and having a chance to win was super special. And then the second part of it was last year when I was acquired at the deadline, obviously came here hurt and then ended up having to get surgery.

And as frustrating as it was individually, it was super motivating, inspiring too, just to be around the guys and see the level of commitment and work ethic they put in and what they achieved. Ultimately, we fell short, but I just wanted to have a healthy kick at the can and see if I could help this group. I really wanted to be a part of this organization. I think they’re world-class. It starts with the leadership group inside the room and then there’s a trickle-down effect. I think through ownership, management, coaching staff, it was a really good place, and I enjoyed my time last year with the limited time that I was here. 

Stetcher: I have belief in myself, and I guess the only thing you can fall back on is experience and I’ve done it in the past. It might have not been from game one on, but in Vancouver, my most common partner was (Alex (Edler) and in the playoffs, we played against (Ryan) O’Reilly’s line, against St. Louis and we played against (Alex) Tuch’s line in Vegas. I’ve done it before.

In Detroit, I played with Mark Staal and the second pair was more of a shutdown pair as Filip Hronek handled the offensive side of things. So, definitely I have experience doing it. I don’t know if maybe there’s a bias against my size and there’s not that confidence in the ability of me to do it from day one, but I take a lot of pride in the way I prepare and it’s a cheesy saying, but if you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready and that’s something I really believe in. So, when they come knocking, I feel like I’m always able to provide good minutes.

Stetcher: I don’t think we’ve really had a conversation about what he expects out of me, but I mean, you just touched on it. He wants everybody to make plays, and I love hearing that because there’s been times where past organizations, I feel like I’ve had to kind of dial back my game where if I make a mistake, maybe they take away my opportunity just based on my stature, but they’re going to give a bigger guy more leeway. So, hearing that here is obviously reassuring for myself and I know it was a number of years ago, but I do have an offensive side to my game. I showed it in college.

I ran a power play with five NHL guys, and I did it in Vancouver my first year and I’m not saying I’m a power play guy by any means, but I do think I have more offense to provide than maybe I have in the past couple years, and I just think a lot of that comes from coaching and confidence.

Stetcher: I think more than anything, it’s just limited defending where you can break a puck out quick, so you’re not spending time in your own zone. I think that’s the most important and second, just having a really good stick and lastly, I’m not scared to get hit. I’m not saying guys are scared to go in a corner, but I’m kind of fearless in that regard where, I don’t know, I’ll just throw a name out, Ryan Reeves, that doesn’t really bother me going in a corner against him.

My first NHL fight was against Matt Martin, even though he jumped me, but at the end of the day, I take a lot of pride in playing for my teammates and I think that’s allowed me to have a lot of success in this league and play as many games as I have.

So far Stecher has played the fewest preseason games and minutes among Dermott, Brown and Emberson. Emberson has practiced mainly with Nurse, while Brown has spent more time with Kulak. Thus far Stecher has looked like the guy starting on the outside, but he’s used to that. He’s defied the odds to play 494 NHL games, and I sensed in our conversation he is just waiting for a opportunity to show what he’s capable of.

He played seven games for the Oilers last year and spent five games with Nurse and two with Philip Broberg. In limited minutes he and Nurse had good numbers. They outshot the opposition 26-22, outscored them 3-0 and had an xGF% of 59.02. Again, it is a very small sample size, but they had success, and while I’m sure Emberson will get the first opportunity to play with Nurse, I wouldn’t count out Stecher.

He’s well aware of how some in the hockey world view him, and he carries a bit of a chip on his shoulder because of it. It is why he’s been able to play eight NHL seasons and he’s confident he can be a contributor in his ninth season. He will wait patiently for his chance, and when it comes, he’ll be ready.

He’s very competitive and as shown here, he isn’t afraid to stand up for himself when needed.

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