Last night we got to take our second look at Troy Stecher in the Edmonton Oilers following his acquisition around the trade deadline. In his first game, he came in after finding out that Mattias Ekholm was sick on game day. Last night he had time to prep himself as he knew well ahead of time that he would be in the lineup due to a Vincent Desharnais.
When it comes to Stecher getting in the lineup in the future, I will assume that he would be taking over Desharnais' spot in the lineup. These two players have quite opposite styles of play. Desharnais is a giant who uses his size to his advantage, whereas Stecher is a smaller quicker player.
Have Two Different Styles Will Be Advantageous In The Playoffs
En route to the Stanley Cup the Edmonton Oilers are going to be facing several different styles of teams. Some teams like the Colorado Avalanche are built around being faster and quicker than their opposition, While other teams are built bigger and tougher, hoping to outpower the opposing team.
For the Oilers having two different options to cover both of these styles of teams could end up being to most valuable change after the trade deadline. Having the ability to change the look of the blueline by swapping out Desharnais and Stecher.
If they need to play a big, tough game they can put in Desharnais as obviously, he is the bigger and stronger player. He will not be pushed around easily and has the ability to stop the cycle on the Oilers' end by using his size and strength. If the Oilers play a team with more speed then they can put in Troy Stecher. He has better foot speed than Vincent Desharnais and with his experience, you can see that he also can think the game faster than Desharnais.
People are looking at the Adam Henrique deal as the most important move the Oilers made at the deadline, but I think that as this team gets deeper in the playoffs the move to bring in Stecher will look better the deeper they go. Adding another quick, veteran defenseman whether he plays or not is never going to be a bad thing.