Oilers Have Hit Jackpot With Useful Defender
Newly re-signed Edmonton Oilers defender could be the key to bringing the blueline together.
Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports - Oilers Have Hit Jackpot With Useful DefenderEDMONTON -- When one door closes, another one opens.
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For the Edmonton Oilers, the door is closing on Philip Broberg's time with the organization. Either the team will match the St. Louis Blues offer sheet, or they will save themselves the proposed $4.58-million that the Blues have offered him.
While allowing a rival organization to snatch a prized young player is terrible asset management, it wouldn't be the end of the world. In fact, there is a defenseman who is ready and able to play on the right side for the second or third pairing.
That defender is Troy Stecher.
Stecher is a two-way defender who is more than worth his weight in gold. He is tenacious, hard-working and is one of the best skaters on the team.
Because the Oilers blue line was set, he didn't see a lot of action in the 2023-24 season. We only have a seven game sample size. Despite this, there are encouraging signs that he has what it takes to be a regular second or third pairing defenseman.
Looking at PuckIQ, we can see what kind of competition Stecher has had the most success playing against. He played 23.2% of his ice time against elites, 30.3% against middle and 46.5% against low competition (gritensity).
Despite playing the most against low end competition, Stecher achieved his best results against the opposition's average players.
Stecher's dangerous fenwick for percentage (DFF%) was 69.1%. The next highest was Mattias Ekholm with 59.2%. As a refresher, DFF is a shot metric that takes into account shot type, distance and location to give each shot a danger value. The higher the percentage, the more dangerous shots find their way towards the opponent's goaltender rather than their own.
Again, it's a small sample size. But when you combine what you saw during his brief stint with the numbers, there is a lot of promise there. Combine that with his $787,500 cap hit for the next two years, and you have the ideal replacement at the NHL level should Broberg find himself playing for the Blues next year.
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There is a lot going on with the Oilers right now, and the next few days will reveal a lot about what the team will look like going forward this season.
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