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Troy Stecher

Coyotes Nearing Extension With Andre Tourigny

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There has been mutual interest between the Coyotes and head coach Andre Tourigny about a possible contract extension.  It appears that the deal is basically in place as PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan reports (video link) that both the term and money of an extension have been agreed upon.  At this point, the delay in announcing is tied to Tourigny’s desire to get his assistant coaches new deals as well.

Those assistants would be John Madden and Mario Duhamel along with goalie coach Corey Schwab.  Blaine Forsythe is also a part of Tourigny’s staff for the upcoming season but he was hired less than a month ago so his contract has already been taken care of.

The 49-year-old has been the bench boss for Arizona for the past two years and while his 53-90-21 record isn’t particularly exciting on the surface, the Coyotes are certainly in the middle of a rebuild.  To their credit, they’ve been a fairly competitive squad most nights in spite of the fact they haven’t iced the more talented team in many of them.  Tourigny has received plenty of praise for how his team has performed while establishing a positive team culture which helped entice veterans Nick Bjugstad and Troy Stecher to return after being moved as rental players at the trade deadline.

Tourigny is already under contract for the upcoming season so there is no immediate rush to get something done.  However, Morgan suggests that everything should be in place before the Coyotes travel to Australia to take on Los Angeles in a pair of exhibition games later this month.

Troy Stecher Returning To Arizona Coyotes

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Defenseman Troy Stecher is returning to the Arizona Coyotes on a one-year deal worth $1.1MM, per Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg.

Bringing Stecher back into the fold provides the Coyotes with a defenseman with more than 250 games of NHL experience, and he immediately becomes the most veteran player slated to take a spot in their top six. It also gives the player some familiarity after he’d played with four different teams in the past two seasons.

At one point a very solid two-way defender, Stecher’s play largely fell off with Arizona after signing as a free agent before last season, posting just seven assists in 61 games. He did, however, show signs of life after a late-season trade to Calgary, where he matched his point total with the Coyotes in just 20 appearances, although he still didn’t quite manage to capture his previous level of proficiency on the defensive side of the game.

He should slot right back into a third-pairing role, battling for playing time with Victor Soderstrom, Joshua Brown, and Michael Kesselring among Coyotes right-shot defenders.

Calgary Flames Expected To Acquire Troy Stecher, Nick Ritchie

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The Calgary Flames are acquiring defenseman Troy Stecher and forward Nick Ritchie from the Arizona Coyotes, per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, in exchange for Brett Ritchie and Connor Mackey.

This deal adds a player from the Coyotes’ second defensive pairing and third forward line to play likely lesser roles in head coach Darryl Sutter’s Flames lineup.

Ritchie, 27, is on an expiring $2.5MM contract and will provide useful depth to the Flames’ forward corps while also potentially taking Walker Duehr’s role on the team’s fourth line. He’s averaged over 13 minutes of ice time per game this season including over two minutes on the power play, and has scored nine goals and 21 points in 58 games this season. He’s another big, heavy forward for Sutter to work with, and should add some possible goal-scoring touch to their lineup as well as some more skill than what his brother has been able to provide the Flames.

As for Stecher, the team is acquiring a 28-year-old on an expiring $1.25MM cap hit. In terms of average ice time per game, he’s been Arizona’s number-four defenseman this season and most recently has skated on their second pairing next to former Calgary blueliner Juuso Valimaki. Stecher hasn’t scored yet this season, but has seven assists and has soaked up nearly three minutes per night on the team’s penalty kill.

With over 400 games of NHL experience, Stecher is an upgrade for the Flames’ bottom pairing over Dennis Gilbert and has the versatility to be able to fit into roles on the Flames lineup as they might pop up as the season goes on.

As for the Coyotes, the most significant element of this deal they are receiving seems to be Mackey, a 26-year-old blueliner who the team can retain beyond this season as a restricted free agent. Mackey has just 19 games of NHL experience but played exceptionally well in the AHL last season, to the tune of 36 points in 53 games.

Perhaps the Coyotes feel that with an increased role on their squad, the smooth-skating defenseman can establish himself as a legitimate NHL defenseman.

As for Ritchie, his inclusion gives the Coyotes an experienced body to fill the role his brother has left behind.

The 29-year-old is operating on an expiring league-minimum salary and has nearly 400 games of NHL experience. He’s averaging under 10 minutes per night this season with no special-teams minutes, although his role could increase in Arizona.

While it might be preferrable given the Coyotes’ current direction for the team to receive draft picks rather than these two players in return for Stecher and Ritchie, the team could legitimately believe that Mackey holds some promise in the short-to-medium term.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Arizona Coyotes Set To Sign Three Players

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The Arizona Coyotes have signed Troy Stecher to a one-year, $1.2MM contract, according to Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV. Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports actually notes that it is worth $1.25MM, but the team has not announced the deal yet. The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta also reports that the team is signing defenseman Josh Brown to a two-year contract. Morgan also notes the team is working on a contract with Nick Bjugstad. Bjugstad’s deal is one-year, $900K.

More to come…

Los Angeles Kings Acquire Troy Stecher

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The Los Angeles Kings have been shopping for a defenseman and were linked to a number of major targets. However, with the likes of Hampus Lindholm, Ben Chiarot, and Mark Giordano now off the table and Jakob Chychrun looking increasingly unlikely to be dealt before the deadline, L.A. has decided to go bargain hunting. The Detroit Red Wings have announced that they have traded defenseman Troy Stecher to the Kings in exchange for a 2022 seventh-round pick. Los Angeles has confirmed the deal as well.

Now, adding Stecher does not remove the Kings from making further deadline additions on the back end, particularly when it comes to long-term pieces like Chychrun. Though just 27 years old and still carrying some name recognition from when he was an up-and-coming blue liner with the Vancouver Canucks, Stecher is merely a rental depth option for the Kings. Stecher has only played in 16 games with Detroit this season, with two points and a career-low 15:08 averaget time on ice. He is now longer the player he was once expected to become and is just an extra option on defense in L.A., hence the low cost of a last-round pick.

With that being said, defensive depth is still highly valuable to the Kings. The club has been inundated with injuries of late, with top-four defenders Drew Doughty, Matt Roy, and Michael Anderson all sidelined, not to mention Sean Walker out for the year. The team has been fortunate enough to get Alex Edler back in the lineup after a long-term absence, but they still have five rookie or sophomore defensemen on the roster right now. Stecher brings some much-needed experience and veteran ability to the team to help with this short-term injury bug and could play himself into a regular role even once the team is back at full strength. Stecher and Edler are familiar having played together in Vancouver and it will be interesting to see if they are paired once again in L.A. and if that could be a stable, successful partnership.

Atlantic Notes: Panthers, Stecher, Mittelstadt

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The Panthers will have some reinforcements up front for their first game after the All-Star break.  Team reporter Jameson Olive relays that wingers Patric Hornqvist and Maxim Mamin plus center Noel Acciari should all be ready to suit up on Wednesday against Carolina.  Hornqvist has been out for close to a month with an upper-body injury while Mamin has missed close to three weeks with an undisclosed injury.  As for Acciari, he hasn’t played with Florida all season due to a pectoral injury suffered back in the preseason that required surgery although he did get in a couple of games on a conditioning stint last week.  The Panthers only have one open roster spot at the moment so they will need to make a couple of moves to activate the trio of forwards off IR.

Elsewhere around the Atlantic:

  • The Red Wings should have defenseman Troy Stecher back in their lineup on Saturday against Philadelphia, notes MLive’s Ansar Khan. The veteran has missed more than three months due to a wrist injury, a disappointing outcome in a year where he’s going to hit unrestricted free agency this summer.  His return will help offset the absences of Filip Hronek (COVID protocol) and Nick Leddy (upper-body injury) and if he’s able to play well over the next month, he could be an interesting trade candidate for Detroit heading into the trade deadline.
  • Sabres center Casey Mittelstadt has been cleared for contact as he works his way towards coming from his latest upper-body injury, reports Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News.  Head coach Don Granato indicated that the 23-year-old can now be classified as being out day-to-day but that they will err on the side of caution since he has hardly played this season; Mittelstadt has played just seven times due to multiple injuries.

Troy Stecher, Mitchell Stephens Out Through Olympic Break

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The Detroit Red Wings have updated a pair of long-term injuries, as both Troy Stecher and Mitchell Stephens will be out through the February Olympic break. Stecher underwent wrist surgery, while Stephens is dealing with a lower-body injury.

Stecher has played just six games so far this season, and he’ll miss another few months as the Olympic break doesn’t end until February 22. The 27-year-old defenseman was such a difference-maker at this year’s World Championship that it appeared as though he might be taking a step forward, but through those six games he averaged fewer than 15 minutes and had just a single point for the rebuilding Red Wings.

Stephens meanwhile had suited up 16 times for Detroit this year, only leaving the lineup after suffering an injury on November 13. The 24-year-old forward hadn’t registered a goal yet, but did have four assists through those games as he filled in as a bottom-six center option.

The Red Wings have come back to earth recently after a nice start to their season, and now sit 8-9-3 on the year. Still extremely young, mounting injuries will only test their depth even further. While they are technically just a few points out of the playoffs, a four-game losing streak and -13 goal differentially certainly don’t have them heading in the right direction.

Injury Updates: Ryan, De La Rose, Stecher, Beecher

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Calgary center Derek Ryan has resumed skating as he works his way back from a thumb injury, reports Postmedia’s Daniel Austin.  The veteran has missed the last dozen games due to the issue and was placed on LTIR.  Since he has missed the required 10 games and 24 days, he’s eligible to be activated as soon as he’s cleared to return, as long as the Flames can get back into cap compliance.  Ryan cleared waivers at the beginning of the season and was likely headed back for the waiver wire again had he not been injured in his tenth game; he had been getting shuffled to and from the taxi squad, being demoted on non-game days to bank cap space.  Another placement there will likely be what ultimately signifies his readiness to return.

More injury news from around the league:

  • The Blues have placed center Jacob de la Rose on injured reserve, notes Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He suffered a lower-body injury early in yesterday’s wild game against San Jose.  While de la Rose cleared waivers to start the season, he had been a regular on the fourth line for the past three weeks, averaging just under 10 minutes per name, a total that’s slightly skewed by his early exit on Saturday.  He’s the sixth Blue on either regular IR or LTIR with Vladimir Tarasenko being the closest to returning.
  • The Red Wings have placed defenseman Troy Stecher on injured reserve, CapFriendly reports. The 26-year-old has missed the last five games due to a lower-body injury and his placement is retroactive to February 19th.  Accordingly, he’s eligible to be activated at any time.  Detroit used the roster spot to recall winger Mathias Brome from the taxi squad in advance of their game tonight against Chicago.
  • Bruins prospect John Beecher has undergone shoulder surgery which puts his college season to an end, relays Jimmy Murphy of Boston Hockey Now. It was a bit of a tough year for the 2019 first-rounder as a bout with COVID-19 put an end to his World Junior hopes and between that and this, the center was limited to just 16 games with the Wolverines this season, notching four goals and four assists.  Boston will now have to decide if he’s better off returning for his junior year or turning pro.

Red Wings Sign Troy Stecher

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After signing Thomas Greiss earlier today, the Red Wings are dipping their toes into the UFA waters again as they announced (Twitter link) the signing of defenseman Troy Stecher to a two-year contract.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (via Twitter) that the deal carries an AAV of $1.7MM.  The 26-year-old was non-tendered by Vancouver on Wednesday instead of giving him a $2.325MM qualifying offer with salary arbitration rights.

Stecher is coming off of a quiet season with the Canucks.  After being a part of their top four, the addition of Tyler Myers and Chris Tanev staying healthy pushed him into primarily a spot on the third pairing in 2019-20.  As a result, his playing time dipped by more than four minutes a game (from 19:55 to 15:21) although he still managed to put up five goals and a dozen assists in 69 games.  In 17 postseason appearances, he had two tallies and a helper while logging a little over 16 minutes per game.  Those numbers are still good for someone on the third pairing but at his qualifying offer number, it was just a bit too expensive for Vancouver to justify.  However, with him and Tanev now gone, there is a hole on Vancouver’s back end that will need to be filled.

Stecher should fit in well with Detroit.  Their depth on the right side of their back end is limited with Filip Hronek basically being the only one ahead of him on the right so this should be an opportunity for him to go back to playing in a top-four role.  He’ll only be 28 when his deal is up which should give him a chance to hit the open market while still being in the prime of his career.  Meanwhile, this may be it for the Red Wings when it comes to the rebuild of their defense.  With this addition plus Jon Merrill yesterday and Marc Staal last month, they now have seven NHL blueliners under contracts with a few youngsters that should contend for playing time at some point next season.

Ten Notable Non-Tenders

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Lost in the shuffle on the marathon second day of the draft is that Wednesday also represented the deadline for qualifying offers to be tendered.  The flattening of the salary cap increased the concerns about salary arbitration which has certainly affected the quality of players that are now set to hit the open market on Friday.  As these players will not be a part of our annual Top-50 UFA Rankings, here’s a rundown of ten notables to keep tabs on over the coming days, listed in alphabetical order.

Andreas Athanasiou (Edmonton)

Back at the trade deadline, the Oilers dealt a pair of second-round picks and Sam Gagner to secure the speedster, one that GM Ken Holland had plenty of familiarity with from his own days with Detroit.  While the winger was having a tough season, he’s only a year removed from a 30-goal campaign.  In a normal salary cap world, his $3MM qualifier would have been tough to swallow but still would have happened.  Instead, he hits the open market with Edmonton not getting much return for those two fairly high picks while becoming an intriguing bounce-back target for some teams.  He won’t get paid like a 30-goal scorer but as a third-liner with upside, he’ll land one of the bigger contracts out of this group of players if not the biggest.

Matt Benning (Edmonton)

There was a time that the Oilers hoped that Benning could step into a role on their second pairing but it didn’t come to fruition.  However, he has been a serviceable third-pairing player over the past few years but a cap-strapped Oilers team couldn’t justify qualifying him at $1.95MM.  Given that he’s a right-handed shot in a market that doesn’t have a lot of them, he should have interest from a few teams.

Nick Cousins (Vegas)

On the surface, a $1MM qualifying offer to a player who had 25 points in 65 games and got into 17 postseason contests doesn’t seem too pricey.  But this is a case where the potential for a higher award through arbitration is a risk that Vegas didn’t want to take with Cousins.  It’s the second-straight year that the 27-year-old was non-tendered for this reason after Arizona did the same thing a year ago.  A versatile depth player, he should be able to land somewhere for around the same contract as he played on this past season.

Anthony Duclair (Ottawa)

Despite finding an opportunity to play a bigger role than he had at any other point in his career, it seems as if Duclair may have overplayed his hand in contract talks.  After scoring 23 goals this season, he opted to represent himself in contract negotiations against the recommendation of GM Pierre Dorion who indicated that a sizable raise was offered before getting to this point.  Still just 25, Duclair becomes a very interesting addition to the open market but having bounced around the league already (he has played for five different teams in six NHL seasons), it’s hard to tell how strong his market may be.

Vinnie Hinostroza (Arizona)

A year ago, it looked like the 26-year-old was set to be a useful part of Arizona’s long-term plans.  He was coming off of a career-best 16-23-39 stat line and was pushing for a spot in their top six.  Things went sideways this year though as he potted just five goals in 68 games which made a $1.5MM qualifier untenable.  Hinostroza could fit on a third line for some teams and should have a fair bit of interest.

Dominik Kahun (Buffalo)

This was one of the more surprising non-tenders of the group.  Although Kahun has just two years of NHL experience, he’s arbitration-eligible since he’s 25.  He followed up a 37-point rookie campaign with 31 points this pandemic-shortened season (including four in six games with Buffalo after being acquired in a deadline day deal from Pittsburgh) while he also missed time with a concussion and a knee injury.  With his point per game average, he played at a 45-point full-season pace.  Buffalo GM Kevyn Adams has indicated they are interested in retaining the winger but if he makes it to the open market, he should be one of the most sought-after players from this list.

Mark Jankowski (Calgary)

While he had shown progress in his development over his first two full NHL seasons, things went off the rails in 2019-20.  Jankowski scored just five times in 56 games and while he wouldn’t have been able to get much more than his $1.75MM qualifier in arbitration, that was still too high of a price tag for Calgary’s liking.  Still just 26, Jankowski now heads to an open market that isn’t exactly loaded in available centers so while a pay cut is likely, he should have no issues finding a new team.

Dominik Simon (Pittsburgh)

A natural center, Simon has spent the majority of his time with Pittsburgh on the wing, playing on all four lines along the way.  While not a gifted point producer, he has surpassed 20 points in each of the last two seasons while posting above-average possession numbers.  Owed a qualifier of less than $800K, the fear of arbitration sealed Simon’s fate on a cap-strapped Penguins squad.

Troy Stecher (Vancouver)

In 2018-19, Stecher looked to be on the verge of securing a spot in Vancouver’s top four after averaging nearly 20 minutes a night and chipping in with 23 points.  But the return of a healthy Chris Tanev and the addition of Tyler Myers helped push the 26-year-old onto the third pairing and a much lower ATOI than usual.  A $2.325MM qualifier is a bit high for someone in that role but there should be a few teams that see him as a potential fourth or fifth option which makes him a notable addition to the UFA market.

Lucas Wallmark (Florida)

One of the notable parts of the Vincent Trocheck deal, Wallmark was coming off of a league-minimum salary which means this non-tender was solely arbitration related.  The 25-year-old only has two full NHL seasons under his belt, putting up 25 and 23 points in each while posting a faceoff percentage that’s a bit above the 50% mark each time.  There is still some upside with Wallmark and with a weak market down the middle, he’ll have no trouble generating interest.

While these players (among the others that were non-tendered) can become unrestricted free agents on Friday, some teams will still be negotiating with their players to try to get them at a lower salary than either their qualifying offer or their expected arbitration salary.  Usually, a handful wind up re-signing so at least for some of these players, their fates may not be completely sealed yet.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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