"Check your ego": Stecher working hard and waiting for his chance with Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers dressing room is empty.
The jerseys for a Friday night game against the Colorado Avalanche are hung in the stalls and reporters have left to go write their pre-game stories.
Yet, the sound of skates tearing up the Rogers Place ice and of pucks hitting the end boards still ring in the hallway between the Oilers’ room and the home-team bench. The culprit? Trade deadline acquisition Troy Stecher who, despite having played just four games since coming to Edmonton, remains one of the last players on the ice every day.
When he finally decided to get off the ice, Stecher stopped in that hallway, still in full gear, for an exclusive interview with Daily Hive to discuss how it feels to be on a team with Stanley Cup aspirations for the first time in his 491-game NHL career.
“I’m excited to be here with a chance to win,” Stecher told Daily Hive. “It’s what you want as a kid who plays hockey, it’s your dream to win the Stanley Cup and this is by far my best opportunity to do it on an individual basis.”
Stecher was not brought in to be a regular player on the Oilers’ blueline. Edmonton GM Ken Holland admitted just a day before the trade that the team was looking to add somebody to fill in as a seventh defender; a player who could fill in if an injury were to occur.
That is exactly what he has been able to do for the Oilers. The team has played 15 games since the trade deadline and Stecher has appeared in just four of those contests. It’s not easy, but the veteran understands the role that he needs to play and is willing to do whatever it takes to help his new team reach the summit.
“I know I’m a good player,” Stecher said. “I want to play, everybody wants to play when you’re a competitor, but you check your ego at the door and you understand that there’s 22 guys on this team that want to play and obviously two guys aren’t in right now.
“That’s the way it is. So you go out there, you put your best foot forward every day to make sure you’re working as hard as you can, and you make sure you’re pushing the group to be at the best that they can be, and, more often than not, when you get called you’re going to be prepared to play.”
The last time Stecher suited up for an NHL playoff game was with the LA Kings in 2022, where he played in four games before being eliminated by the Oilers in Game 7. In that series, Stecher wound up being a thorn in Edmonton’s side, scoring two goals and four points despite not playing until Game 4.
Enjoy @troystecher's first goal as a King đŸ™‚#GKG pic.twitter.com/Gc2Ae0eu5P
— LA Kings (@LAKings) May 9, 2022
That being said, he has no worries about potentially going up against his old teammates in the playoffs if it comes down to it.
“You put your friendships aside when the game starts and you go play,” Stecher explained. “I’ve had a lot of experiences playing against friends and there’s no hard feelings… We have a common goal as an organization and that’s winning a Stanley Cup. You’re not going to let anybody stand in your way.”
The playoffs are all about putting in as much work as possible to win. Even if Stecher doesn’t get into the majority of games in the postseason, he will certainly set a standard that his teammates will have to match every single day.