Confirmed with Link: Canucks sign defenceman Troy Stecher (post #194, #443)

[ihaveyuidonttouchme]

Added a poll, does Stecher make the opening night lineup or not.

Why or why not?

would make the season interesting if i say yes so i'll have to go with illogical one and say no b.c logic ever happens

 

[WTG]

Larsen played 0 penalty minutes tonight, while stecher played 2:11 minutes

23:43 minutes tonight for stecher 2nd highest on the team. Sporting the teams best corsi against arizona's NHL roster. Meanwhile only played 17:26 minutes. That's a significant difference.

To me that seems like the logical conclusion is that Stecher will make the opening night lineup.

If Willie can trust Stecher like that + give him PK time it means he must think that Stecher is the more dynamic player.

 

[F A N]

We have 4 D that broadly look like they are or will be capable of playing strong top pair minutes. 3 of these 4 are under 30 years of age and the other is just turned 30.

For Forwards who do or could potentially form an effective top line we have a pair of guys pushing the back half of their 30's, another guy in his early 30's, and maybe Brock Boeser who, even if he turns out perfectly still seems more a elite finisher than line driver. We then have Horvat as a likely strong second liner and some interesting question marks in Baertschi, Rodin, and Virtanen. That is literally it for top 6 forward depth. Meanwhile the defense still has further depth with Gudbanson (#5), Stecher (#6), Tryamkin (#7), and Larsen (#8).

Pretty substantial gap between the top end of both positions as well as just pure depth, doncha think?

I thought we were talking about "depth?" You were talking about how a team's 7th Dman isn't the quality of the guys we have now competing for the 7th Dman spot. Talking about players who could form an effective top line isn't depth.

Regardless, I disagree with your point about there being an overallocation of assets on D. Prior to Benning drafting Juolevi, the Canucks haven't drafted a Dman with their first round pick since Bourdon (RIP). Benning followed that up by drafting forwards in his first 2 drafts in the first round. While McCann was traded for Gudbranson, Benning also spent a 2nd round pick acquiring Baertschi. And in this summer's draft, Benning drafted 4 forwards and 2 D. In fact, there hasn't been a draft where Benning drafted more D than forwards. And in terms of free agency, Benning hasn't signed any D of note. But he signed Eriksson, Vrbata, and went after Lucic and Iginla. Stetcher was a Dman who was signed to an ELC, but Benning went after Caggiula. Laplante and Carconne got ELCs as well. There's simply no support for your over allocation argument.

If anything, there have been more resources devoted to improving the forward corps than the D corps (which is fair given there are more forward positions). And even in terms of cap room allocation. The cap room/salary spent on D relative to forwards is actually lower than what our past 2 GMs have spent. For what it's worth, our past 2 GMs before Benning devoted more resources to D than up front.

It's not an allocation issue if Hutton and Tryamkin has top 4 potential but Cole Cassels or Grenier don't have top 6 potential. It's not an allocation issue if Stecher has top 4 potential but Laplante doesn't have top 4 potential.

 

[Shareefruck]

How so? Care to explain? Are you overrating our Dmen or underrating our forwards.

Ugh.

 

[me2]

Larsen played 0 penalty minutes tonight, while stecher played 2:11 minutes

23:43 minutes tonight for stecher 2nd highest on the team. Sporting the teams best corsi against arizona's NHL roster. Meanwhile only played 17:26 minutes. That's a significant difference.

To me that seems like the logical conclusion is that Stecher will make the opening night lineup.

If Willie can trust Stecher like that + give him PK time it means he must think that Stecher is the more dynamic player.

One issue with stecher is lasting the season as a first time Pro, especially if asked to play big minutes. It's a bit harder to hide a tired defensemen than a tired forward who you can shuffle down to the low minutes lines without serious disruption. Benning will need to weigh up that risk vs the cons, and have a backup plan.

 

[F A N]

Ugh.

Ugh what?

 

[CanaFan]

I thought we were talking about "depth?" You were talking about how a team's 7th Dman isn't the quality of the guys we have now competing for the 7th Dman spot. Talking about players who could form an effective top line isn't depth.

Regardless, I disagree with your point about there being an overallocation of assets on D. Prior to Benning drafting Juolevi, the Canucks haven't drafted a Dman with their first round pick since Bourdon (RIP). Benning followed that up by drafting forwards in his first 2 drafts in the first round. While McCann was traded for Gudbranson, Benning also spent a 2nd round pick acquiring Baertschi. And in this summer's draft, Benning drafted 4 forwards and 2 D. In fact, there hasn't been a draft where Benning drafted more D than forwards. And in terms of free agency, Benning hasn't signed any D of note. But he signed Eriksson, Vrbata, and went after Lucic and Iginla. Stetcher was a Dman who was signed to an ELC, but Benning went after Caggiula. Laplante and Carconne got ELCs as well. There's simply no support for your over allocation argument.

If anything, there have been more resources devoted to improving the forward corps than the D corps (which is fair given there are more forward positions). And even in terms of cap room allocation. The cap room/salary spent on D relative to forwards is actually lower than what our past 2 GMs have spent. For what it's worth, our past 2 GMs before Benning devoted more resources to D than up front.

It's not an allocation issue if Hutton and Tryamkin has top 4 potential but Cole Cassels or Grenier don't have top 6 potential. It's not an allocation issue if Stecher has top 4 potential but Laplante doesn't have top 4 potential.

I think you are misunderstanding what I mean by misallocation. I am not complaining about the use of resources used to acquire the players, I am saying it is a misallocation to leave a player like say Juolevi as the 4th or 5th D or Stetcher as the 6th or 7th D when we have empty cupboards up front.

The use of draft picks is irrelevant. There is no rule stating you have to use picks equally on forwards and defense. When the forwards we did draft end up as Grabner, White, Hodsgon, and Schroeder it hardly "helps" our forward problem. Meanwhile we sign Tanev as a UFA, draft Hutton in the 5th, and sign quality vets like Hamhuis for free. The point is our defensive depth is better in terms of quality than our forward depth. We have several roster players and prospects who project to be top 3-4 d. We have 1 forward who projects to be a top line scorer and then 2-3 who look like good/decent second line guys. Cassels is bottom 6 depth at best. Same for Gaunce. Grenier is an AHLer.

If you stack the two positions side by side - also allowing that you need 3 forwards to a line vs 2 defensemen - you'll see the balance is off and we should consider trading off some D assets for forward ones.

 

[Win One Before I Die]

If Stetcher doesn't make this team it will be a crying shame. We actually may have a good defensive group this year.

 

[Disappointed EP40]

Larsen played 0 penalty minutes tonight, while stecher played 2:11 minutes

23:43 minutes tonight for stecher 2nd highest on the team. Sporting the teams best corsi against arizona's NHL roster. Meanwhile only played 17:26 minutes. That's a significant difference.

To me that seems like the logical conclusion is that Stecher will make the opening night lineup.

If Willie can trust Stecher like that + give him PK time it means he must think that Stecher is the more dynamic player.

He may have just been trying him on the PK to see how he'd fair.

That said, I think he faired well.

I think he's marinaded enough in the lesser leagues. He's NHL ready and should play in it. His confidence doesn't seem to be an issue. Keep him up.

 

[Megaterio Llamas]

Yes please. He has a spot on this team next to Tryamkin. Make it happen.

This is what I was thinking and damned if it isn't actually trending that way now!

 

[Hit the post]

He'll get icetime - if for no other reason we seem to get more than our share of injuries. Based on his play so far (yeah, I know, it's just pre-season....), looks like a solid move by management (re: defensemen depth).

 

[Phenomenon13]

Stecher means that Pedan is getting waived? Guess we not gonna see him again.
Biega being waived si a given at this point.
Honestly, Sbisa should be waived.


Edler Tanev
Hutton Gudbranson
Tryamkin Stecher
Larsen

I think Stecher is a lock to get the 9 game look.

 

[NoShowWilly]

Stecher means that Pedan is getting waived? Guess we not gonna see him again.
Biega being waived si a given at this point.
Honestly, Sbisa should be waived.


Edler Tanev
Hutton Gudbranson
Tryamkin Stecher
Larsen

I think Stecher is a lock to get the 9 game look.

who we exposing in the expansion draft?

 

[CanaFan]

who we exposing in the expansion draft?

Call Biega up to fill in for injuries? He'll almost certainly clear waivers and only needs 19 games with the Canucks this season to qualify.

 

[Megaterio Llamas]

Stecher means that Pedan is getting waived? Guess we not gonna see him again.
Biega being waived si a given at this point.
Honestly, Sbisa should be waived.


Edler Tanev
Hutton Gudbranson
Tryamkin Stecher
Larsen

I think Stecher is a lock to get the 9 game look.

I think the 9 game # is irrelevant in Stecher's situation. As a college signee it's just a random number without any bearing on contract etc.

 

[UticaHockey]

Stecher means that Pedan is getting waived? Guess we not gonna see him again.
Biega being waived si a given at this point.
Honestly, Sbisa should be waived.


Edler Tanev
Hutton Gudbranson
Tryamkin Stecher
Larsen

I think Stecher is a lock to get the 9 game look.

The nine games only apply to players being sent back to juniors. It has nothing to do with Stecher.

 

[Street Hawk]

Larsen played 0 penalty minutes tonight, while stecher played 2:11 minutes

23:43 minutes tonight for stecher 2nd highest on the team. Sporting the teams best corsi against arizona's NHL roster. Meanwhile only played 17:26 minutes. That's a significant difference.

To me that seems like the logical conclusion is that Stecher will make the opening night lineup.

If Willie can trust Stecher like that + give him PK time it means he must think that Stecher is the more dynamic player.

Regardless of whether he makes the opening night roster, there is no time limit on the Canucks to decide to keep him, unlike McCann and Virtanen last season. If he struggles once the real season begins, then the Canucks will send him down to Utica. It's one thing to make the opening night roster, another thing to remain with the big club for the entire season.

The only thing that would impact Stecher remaining with the club when the season begins would likely be the waiver wire, in terms of someone being available that the Canucks would like to add. I see a couple of names to keep an eye on. But, have to wait and see how those clubs figure out their roster.

Edler, Tanev, Hutton, Gudbranson, Scibsa, are your 5 locks. Whether it's Tryamkin, Pedan, Larsen or whomever left with Stecher for the final 2/3 spots.

Should the Canucks be worried about losing one of those guys via waivers? No. Biega is what he is. Small #7 guy. He shouldn't be in the top 6 because if you have 2 injuries, it puts him into the #4 slot. Ideally, he's a #7, so at worst, even with 2 injuries, he's still on the 3rd pairing. Pedan, bigger guy, but NHL going away from that type. Hasn't shown enough to make another club take him and keep him on their roster the whole season. Larsen, if he can't make the Canucks, he's not getting claimed.

 

[alternate]

At this point, I'm in favour of sending Stecher down to start the season. Getting 23+ mins under Green's tutelage for the first 20 or so professional games of Stecher's career isn't going to hurt anything, and may very well be a positive in his development.

Take a bit of time to look at the 5-8 guys (Sbisa, Larsen, Pedan, Tryamkin) and let things shake out a bit there. There will be some injuries and just because Pedan is sitting in the press box, doesn't mean we can't call up and play Stecher if someone is going to miss a few games.

Stecher has looked great, but have to keep the competition in mind a little bit. I'd like to protect as much depth as we can, and I'm not ready to turn the page on Pedan or Tryamkin. If Sbisa can be moved, booya. Other than that, let Stecher be the big dog in Utica for a few games before becoming a full time NHLer.

 

[DL44]

At this point, I'm in favour of sending Stecher down to start the season. Getting 23+ mins under Green's tutelage for the first 20 or so professional games of Stecher's career isn't going to hurt anything, and may very well be a positive in his development.

Take a bit of time to look at the 5-8 guys (Sbisa, Larsen, Pedan, Tryamkin) and let things shake out a bit there. There will be some injuries and just because Pedan is sitting in the press box, doesn't mean we can't call up and play Stecher if someone is going to miss a few games.

Stecher has looked great, but have to keep the competition in mind a little bit. I'd like to protect as much depth as we can, and I'm not ready to turn the page on Pedan or Tryamkin. If Sbisa can be moved, booya. Other than that, let Stecher be the big dog in Utica for a few games before becoming a full time NHLer.

That is definitely the smart asset management approach to take...

But seeing Edler reinvigorated and refreshed playing with another offensive minded dman has me excited.
Tanev has been a buzz kill offensively... so the Edler-Tanev is a good shut down pairing. .. but Edler just looks ALIVE playing with Stecher.. it's awesome.

It needs to be further explored in the next 2 games.

Tanev with the puck past his blueline leaves a lot to be desired. I wanna start a poll.. who has been better this preseason with the puck, Biega or Tanev... the fact it would be close sucks for us.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Poll had me indecisive. If the choices were: Should Stecher make the opening night lineup? Yes or No, then it's a slam dunk YES for me. Does he? Nothing this coach does surprises me anymore.

Honestly, give the guy a shot. He can always head back to Utica to work things out if it doesn't go the way we'd hoped.

3rd pairing minutes, but 1st pair PP. That's what I want to see Stecher do to start the season.

Edler-Tanev
Hutton-Gudbranson
Tryamkin/someone/notSbisagoodgodnotSbisa-Stecher.

Give him 3rd pairing minutes, then stick him with Edler or what the hell, Hutton on the PP.

 

[DL44]

Poll had me indecisive. If the choices were: Should Stecher make the opening night lineup? Yes or No, then it's a slam dunk YES for me. Does he? Nothing this coach does surprises me anymore.

Honestly, give the guy a shot. He can always head back to Utica to work things out if it doesn't go the way we'd hoped.

3rd pairing minutes, but 1st pair PP. That's what I want to see Stecher do to start the season.

Edler-Tanev
Hutton-Gudbranson
Tryamkin/someone/notSbisagoodgodnotSbisa-Stecher.

Give him 3rd pairing minutes, then stick him with Edler or what the hell, Hutton on the PP.

Nothing would be better for his team than if we could break up Edler-Tanev imo.

Hutton-Gudbranson - shut down pair, vs top lines
Sbisa-Tanev shut down pair #2 vs teams 2nd lines
Edler-Stecher - backs the Sedins, and 1st unit PP

 

[RobertKron]

Nothing would be better for his team than if we could break up Edler-Tanev imo.

Hutton-Gudbranson - shut down pair, vs top lines
Sbisa-Tanev shut down pair #2 vs teams 2nd lines
Edler-Stecher - backs the Sedins, and 1st unit PP

This would be a tremendous waste of Tanev.

 

[MS]

This would be a tremendous waste of Tanev.

And Hutton, who should be freed up to generate offence from a 2nd pairing, not shoehorned into a shutdown role getting 35% o-zone starts against top opposition lines every night.

 

[RobertKron]

And Hutton, who should be freed up to generate offence from a 2nd pairing, not shoehorned into a shutdown role getting 35% o-zone starts against top opposition lines every night.

Would likely be a nice way to limit Hutton and Gudbranson's impending new contracts, though.

Also, Tanev might make Sbisa tradeable over a whole season.

 

[DL44]

This would be a tremendous waste of Tanev.

Disagree. . It would be a tremendous flex of depth.
Remeber Tanev has nothing to offer offensively...