During the past offseason, the Toronto Maple Leafs made various moves that they hoped would pay of big during the 2025-26 NHL season. Whether it be the trades for Matias Maccelli and Dakota Joshua, or the acquisition of Nicolas Roy from the Mitch Marner ordeal, the Maple Leafs were counting on those key pieces to be a part of their contending puzzle going forward.
However, little would they know that it would be an under-the-radar transaction during the 2025-26 regular season that is turning out to be the move that has been paying off the most. Early on in the season when the Leafs were hit with injury woes for their blueline, they went out on the waiver wire to nab Troy Stecher from the Edmonton Oilers in mid-November. That acquisition has become critical for the Maple Leafs’ current success.
Troy Stecher has been quietly the Leafs' saviour
Since coming over to Toronto, Stecher has provided some much-needed grit and physical play from the right side while stabilizing the bottom-four defensive pairings as a result. On top of that, the 31-year-old veteran has registered a 51% CF%, an impressive 56% expected goals rate and a 53% scoring chances rate in 5-on-5 situations, tilting the ice in the Leafs favour whenever he came off the bench.
More surprisingly, Stecher has been effectively chipping in offensively as well, recording two goals, five assists and a plus-11 in 22 games played with the Leafs after being held pointless with the Oilers. That has included his clutch game-tying goal against the Winnipeg Jets on New Year’s Day to help Toronto to an amazing 6-5 come-from-behind win after trailing 4-1 at one point in the game. With seven points under his belt, Stecher has already matched his points total from all of last season. In fact, at the current rate, the veteran defenseman would be on pace for his best offensive season since back during his days with the Vancouver Canucks.
With both defensive stalwarts Chris Tanev and Brandon Carlo currently out with Tanev potentially done for the season, along with Jake McCabe also going down to an injury in the game against the New York Islanders on Saturday, Stecher could all of a sudden be thrusted into an even more prominent role for the Maple Leafs going forward. Looking back now, if Toronto didn’t take a gamble by snatching Stecher off of waivers at the right moment two months ago, their season could have been over by now. Instead, the Leafs could be leaning on his shoulders now to lead the way into the second half of the season in search of a playoff spot.