'Perfect storm': Darnell Nurse's ex-partner hailed as a game-changer in Toronto

Just now Troy Stecher, waived last month by the Edmonton Oilers, is the toast of Toronto, working his way up to the top pairing with Jake McCabe and scoring a big goal and was +4 in Toronto’s big Tuesday night win over the Florida Panthers.

Toronto pundits there still haven’t forgotten that Stecher, 31, is a journeymen d-man, but there’s now great appreciation for the player in Leafs land, making Stecher the latest former partner of Edmonton Oilers d-man Darnell Nurse to succeed once he’s left Edmonton, either monetarily or on the ice or both. Cody Ceci, Vincent Desharnais and Philip Broberg all fit into that same category.

Leafs coach Craig Berube has this to say about Stecher after the win: “He’s playing with a ton of confidence right now. He’s like very composed. Him and McCabe look like they got instant chemistry right now, which is great. And they’re moving the puck extremely well. And like talk about pace, Stecher plays with pace out there. Like, I mean, he closes on people, he skates, he gets up the ice, he’s doing a lot of good things.”

On the Real Kyper and Bourne show out of Toronto, hosts Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee all praised Stecher’s play, while trying not to get too ahead of themselves at the same time.

The Leafs look like a different team now smartly moving the puck up-ice, McKee said, wondering how much of that had to do with Stecher’s deft and direct passing, the kind we regularly saw from him in Edmonton.

“He’s changed the back end, which is insane,” McKee said.

Kypreos wondered how long the top pairing of Stecher and Jake McCabe could last, but added, “He’s got mobility. He’s got quickness. He’s got a lot of things that they didn’t show the first 20 games.”

“He’s a waiver claim and I think they’re asking all they possibly can out of him,” McKee continued. “But his style has changed them from the back and he’s played the second most minutes.”

Bourne said the change in the Leafs was fascinating. “(Stecher) got a rebound last night and cut the net and took a few strides and broke them out and I was like, ‘Oh wow. That’s nice. You know, he didn’t bang it off the glass.’”

Kypreos: “For Stecher and the Leafs, it was the perfect storm in terms of both of them needing something that they could each provide… Again, I don’t know how long it can last. This is a guy that he said he’s on his seventh team. So he comes in, he fills a certain void, but once the team gets maybe healthy or they just look at bigger, stronger, younger prospects, he gets pushed out. But he’s a legitimate sixth or seventh defenseman right now in the NHL, I would think, and on a team like Toronto, it’s much higher.”

Said Bourne: “There’s no doubt he’s an NHL d-man. Is he an NHL d-man on a good competitive playoff team? I mean, played for the Oil, was the seventh guy for the Oilers last year.”

My take

1. Stecher failed to bring his “A” game to the Oilers early this season, not helped at all by the fact his partner Nurse was bringing his D- game. Indeed, the last two playoff seasons being paired up with Nurse has become something of a curse on the Oilers, with few players succeeding in that role, even as many have tried.

2. It’s no surprise to hear praise for Stecher, though. He plays a smart, direct game. He flashes back for pucks and almost instantly makes a smart pass to either clear the zone or get time and space for the player receiving the pass. He was known last year as the Nurse Whisperer, the one player who got the best out of Nurse . Perhaps it’s no surprise that in the regular season Nurse had his best season ever playing so much with Stecher. Their success continued in the playoffs, save for the Final against Florida when they were two of the many Oilers players who struggled mightily.

3. From the insider talk, it sounded to me like Edmonton was struggling with whether or not the teams should waive or trade Stecher or Troy Emberson to make a spot for Alec Regula. Both are stalwart defenders and tough as nails. Emberson started slowly this year but has come on and been on of Edmonton’s best d-men the past ten games or so. As much as I admire Stecher’s battle, I’ll suggest the Oilers made the right call in keeping the much younger Emberson.

4. As for the other d-men who ended up in iffy pairings with Nurse in the playoffs, Cody Ceci signed a $3.25 million deal to play in San Jose last year. He did well enough that Dallas traded for him and used him in heavy rotation in the playoffs. Ceci built on that success to sign a new four year deal at $4.5 million per with Los Angeles. Paying that much to a slower and older d-man was widely criticized this summer, and I joined in the chorus of doubters, but good for Ceci, an under-rated player in Edmonton who was a solid anchor for the inconsistent Nurse for a few seasons.

Vincent Desharnais was also paired with Nurse in the 2024 playoffs and that pairing also struggled, Desharnais eventually getting pulled from the line-up. But he, too, ended up on with a great new deal, two years at $2 million dollars per year. He didn’t last in Vancouver and was moved to Pittsburgh, then San Jose last year, but he’s played 20 games for the Sharks this year, so he’s hanging in there.

Finally Philip Broberg was the one player who did well with Nurse in the 2024 playoffs. His leaving Edmonton on an offer sheet has been munched over enough, but it’s fair to say Broberg has given the Blues good value on his two-year $4.6 million per year deal, playing his way up to the top pairing this year and putting himself in a line for a major pay day.

Can Stecher also cash in on his good play with the Leafs?

Why not?

He’s a great veteran presence for any team and a crafty puckmover and defender. He can help many a team in a bottom pairing role, or, in the case of the defence-depleted Leafs, in a top-pairing role in the short term at least.

At the Cult of Hockey

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