Stecher joins the Maple Leafs after playing six games with the Oilers to begin the season.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have claimed defenseman Troy Stecher off of waivers, the team announced on Saturday afternoon, a couple of hours before their matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Stecher, 31, was placed on waivers by the Edmonton Oilers on Friday to make room for Zach Hyman, who was returning from injury. Stecher averaged 13:37 of ice time through six games this season and hasn't registered a point yet.
The Richmond, British Columbia-born defenseman is in the second season of a two-year, $1.58 million contract, signed with the Oilers on July 1, 2024. The annual average value of the deal is $787,500.
In a corresponding move to the waiver claim, the Maple Leafs have placed Anthony Stolarz on injured reserve, retroactive to Nov. 11, when he left after one period against the Boston Bruins with an upper-body injury.
The earliest Stolarz can come off the team's injured reserve list is Nov. 19 (this coming Wednesday), seven days after he last played. That means he's ruled out of Tuesday's game against the St. Louis Blues. Through 13 games this season, Stolarz has six wins and an .884 save percentage.
Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube listed Stolarz as day-to-day on Friday after practice.
Why did Toronto claim Stecher?
Stecher joins a Maple Leafs defense that has struggled as of late. He'll slot into the team's back-end as their third right-shot defenseman while Chris Tanev is out of the lineup with an injury. The other two right shots are Brandon Carlo (who missed Friday's practice for maintenance) and Philippe Myers.
The biggest reason they claimed Stecher was because of the team's lack of right-handed options in the AHL. Berube has mentioned before that he likes to have a left and right-shot combo in his defense pairings, and Toronto, at the moment, doesn't have many right-shots in the AHL.
Matt Benning, their top right-handed defender, is week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Aside from him, you'd have William Villeneuve. However, with Toronto's struggles as of late, the Maple Leafs would likely want a more defensive-minded defenseman.
That's where Stecher, a veteran defender in the NHL with over 500 games of experience comes in.
With Carlo absent from practice on Friday, this is how the Maple Leafs' defense pairings shook out:
Morgan Rielly - Philippe Myers
Simon Benoit - Jake McCabe
Dakota Mermis - Ekman-Larsson
It remains unknown if he'll get into the lineup on Saturday against the Blackhawks. The Oilers are in Raleigh, North Carolina, for a game against the Carolina Hurricanes. It's always possible that Stecher can get onto a flight and make it to Chicago in time for puck drop.
Berube will likely confirm whether Stecher plays when he meets with the media in Chicago at 4:45 p.m. ET.
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