Player Discussion Troy Stecher, Pt. II

[Wolfhard]

a lot of you are sleeping on jordan subban. if he has another good year in the ahl, he should be competiting for a roster spot next year.

I feel like he has an idea of how to play defense, but doesn't show much desire to actually do it.
Yes, he's got talent, and definitely has the potential to be a point getter. But his defensive game is abysmal. It almost seems like he's so busy trying to prove that he's got this amazing offense, that he completely ignores the defensive side of the game.
Until/unless he shows at least some desire to even be average defensively, he's not even in the conversation.

 

[Pip]

I think he will be too. Could have done the 9 game experience this year and wouldn't have looked to out of place. It wasn't possible due to the mass of depth D we have, and of course, Troy Stecher.

I see the lines playing out as,

Hutton Tanev
Edler Stecher
Juolevi Gudbransson

I thought Juolevi didn't look close to making the team this year. Hopefully he's a lot stronger next year.

 

[Puck Ingrate]

Per canucks.com:

CANUCKS REDUCE ROSTER

Vancouver, B.C. - Vancouver Canucks General Manager Jim Benning announced today that the Canucks have reduced their pre-season roster by two players. The moves bring the club's current roster to 27 players.

The following player has cleared waivers and has been assigned to the Utica Comets:

Richard Bachman Goaltender

The following player has been assigned to Utica:

Troy Stecher Defenceman

 

[WTG]

I really like Willies and managements statements on Stecher so far.

Looks like they don't want to throw him right into the deep end, seems like they learned a lot from Hutton's situation here last year. Canucks have almost 15 games in 30 days to start off the year. Throwing Stecher into that will probably do more harm them good, especially knowing the conditioning that the NCAA players are used to.

 

[timw33]

We already have enough incredibly inexperienced dmen in the group, this is the right move.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

I would have rather kept him up and given him a shot. I honestly think he's the best option we have on the right side after Tanev and Gudbranson.

Sometimes, kids can swim in the deep end right away. Just had that feeling with Stecher. It's not just the points or the shot, it's the confidence he played with.

Oh well.

 

[timw33]

I would have rather kept him up and given him a shot. I honestly think he's the best option we have on the right side after Tanev and Gudbranson.

This is the most waiver-efficient move though. We'll get our looks at Larsen/Tyamkin/Biega and if one of them sucks they're packing and Stetcher is on his way. Not to mention our D core *will* sustain multiple injuries, as it does every single year.

 

[Rotting Corpse*]

This is the most waiver-efficient move though. We'll get our looks at Larsen/Tyamkin/Biega and if one of them sucks they're packing and Stetcher is on his way. Not to mention our D core *will* sustain multiple injuries, as it does every single year.

Yes. Except they should waive Sbisa.

 

[krutovsdonut]

i agree with the decision. it will be good for his development. very interesting also to have stecher and subban now on the right side d in utica. green is not going to be able to shelter them from bigger wingers so they'll have to handle them.

on a related size note, if you consider that both stecher and larsen both seem unlikely to handle an entire season on their size alone, it makes sense to start with larsen.

 

[David71]

stecher will probably be back at some point. give him a few games in utica to see how he feels.

 

[me2]

This is the most waiver-efficient move though. We'll get our looks at Larsen/Tyamkin/Biega and if one of them sucks they're packing and Stetcher is on his way. Not to mention our D core *will* sustain multiple injuries, as it does every single year.

A marginal team with playoff expectations should be icing their best from the get go. It is a risky strategy if you don't expect to have many points to play with when it comes to making the playoffs.

 

[alternate]

excited to see if Green can make an even better player out of Stecher for when he does play some NHL games later.

 

[biturbo19]

I don't mind Stecher being sent down. I do think that it would've been beneficial to see what he could do when playing with someone other than Edler in the preseason, to get a better grasp on just what we have here right now. But that didn't happen. I think there is real cause for caution in Stecher's case in that there's a real risk of a McCann situation emerging. He's not a big guy, playing a position where he will be targeted physically...and the NHL season is a major grind.

This way at least, he's clearly going down on a high note...which hopefully allows him to keep that momentum rolling. That's really my only concern with sending him down right now. He's riding that high kind of like Hutton last year, of maybe not fully realizing what he's accomplishing. The sort of naive "doesn't know he's not supposed to be there" confidence thing.

Hopefully he can keep that confidence rolling down in Utica and continue to refine his game in a Pro system, and adjust to a Pro schedule. If he's really as much of a "good one" as we're all hoping...a bit of polish time in the AHL really shouldn't hurt him.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

I don't mind Stecher being sent down. I do think that it would've been beneficial to see what he could do when playing with someone other than Edler in the preseason, to get a better grasp on just what we have here right now. But that didn't happen. I think there is real cause for caution in Stecher's case in that there's a real risk of a McCann situation emerging. He's not a big guy, playing a position where he will be targeted physically...and the NHL season is a major grind.

This way at least, he's clearly going down on a high note...which hopefully allows him to keep that momentum rolling. That's really my only concern with sending him down right now. He's riding that high kind of like Hutton last year, of maybe not fully realizing what he's accomplishing. The sort of naive "doesn't know he's not supposed to be there" confidence thing.

Hopefully he can keep that confidence rolling down in Utica and continue to refine his game in a Pro system, and adjust to a Pro schedule. If he's really as much of a "good one" as we're all hoping...a bit of polish time in the AHL really shouldn't hurt him.

With Green as the coach in Utica I have absolutely no issue sending players down to become even more well rounded. At this point I wouldn't be adverse to seeing Virtanen spend half a season or so in Utica.

 

[VanJack]

I don't think the Canucks will be as bad as advertised this year, but if they are, then Stecher is better served being in Utica rather than being thrown off the deep end in Vancouver....interesting that Jimbo was on radio today saying that with the compressed schedule, the Canucks expect they'll go through 12 d-men like they did last season...so could be lots of NHL time for guys like Stecher and Pedan.

 

[biturbo19]

I don't think the Canucks will be as bad as advertised this year, but if they are, then Stecher is better served being in Utica rather than being thrown off the deep end in Vancouver....interesting that Jimbo was on radio today saying that with the compressed schedule, the Canucks expect they'll go through 12 d-men like they did last season...so could be lots of NHL time for guys like Stecher and Pedan.

I'd fully expect Stecher and Pedan to get some NHL games in this season.


That said, i vaguely recall the year Gillis decided to try carrying 8D to solve this problem, ending up one of the years it was our Forwards who got decimated. Kind of a Murphy's Law of Canucks roster management. Carry 8D and they'll probably all stay healthy, while the Forwards drop like flies.

 

[VanJack]

I'd fully expect Stecher and Pedan to get some NHL games in this season.


That said, i vaguely recall the year Gillis decided to try carrying 8D to solve this problem, ending up one of the years it was our Forwards who got decimated. Kind of a Murphy's Law of Canucks roster management. Carry 8D and they'll probably all stay healthy, while the Forwards drop like flies.

This could be....for whatever reason it seems easier to mask injuries up-front, compared to d-men...when one or two of your 6-8 guys end up having to move into the top-four, that seems to trigger an avalanche of goals-against.

 

[biturbo19]

This could be....for whatever reason it seems easier to mask injuries up-front, compared to d-men...when one or two of your 6-8 guys end up having to move into the top-four, that seems to trigger an avalanche of goals-against.

This is also typically very true.

A good coach at least, can usually find places to "hide" a few lackluster forwards without dramatic repercussions. But trying to "hide" 2-3 defencemen who don't belong there is near impossible.

When you've got 6 slots vs 12 slots, it certainly makes sense that the loss of a roster player from the smaller pool would make for bigger waves crashing into your own net.

 

[Beansy*]

Love the potential in this player, but keeping him in Vancouver would have been a mistake. He would have more than likely been overwhelmed by playing regular season NHL games, the travel, the grind.........being thrown into the fire. Add to all this, when he had troubles - which would be inevitable at some stage, he would have had to deal with media pressures, and fan discontent - all while trying to figure his game out.

Being far away in Utica for a full year of development, playing as a potential top pairing d-man, is going to be the very best thing for him.

 

[mossey3535]

Gotta give them credit for doing the right asset management thing. I mean what does an opening night start even mean?

 

[Bougieman]

Yes. Except they should waive Sbisa.

No they shouldn't. We need him for our penalty kill. He might be my least fave Canuck, but like it or not, he's integral to our PK at the moment.

 

[absolute garbage]

No they shouldn't. We need him for our penalty kill. He might be my least fave Canuck, but like it or not, he's integral to our PK at the moment.

No he isn't. He was our worst PK defenseman one year ago. Sbisa is easily replaceable there. They even got Gudbranson for the 2nd unit.

The saddest thing is keeping Sbisa is not the worst option right now, just because how abhorrent the defense group is (especially on the left side). But that doesn't make him even remotely decent at any part of the game.

 

[Gaunce4gm]

Next year I want to see

Edler-Stecher
Hutton-Gudbranson
Juolevi-Tanev
Pedan-Tryamkin

 

[James Underbuss*]

Looks like he's getting the call up. Larsen out?

 

[Zombotron]

You're right, NH