Detroit Red Wings

Red Wings Deal Troy Stecher to Los Angeles Kings

Published

2 years ago

March 20, 2022

The Detroit Red Wings traded Troy Stecher to the Los Angeles Kings for a seventh-round draft pick (Photo by Sammi Silber)

The Detroit Red Wings got on the trade deadline scoreboard by dealing spunky defenseman Troy Stecher to the Los Angeles Kings for a seventh round pick.

The Red Wings may also deal defenseman Nick Leddy, forward Vladislav Namestnikov, or five other potential unrestricted free agents

Stecher, 27, has only played 16 games this season because he suffered a broken wrist. He was a healthy scratch early in the season when the Red Wings had eight experienced defensemen.

The Kings were looking for defensive depth. Veteran Drew Doughty is currently on the Kings’ injured list and is expected to be out longer than originally anticipated.

Stecher makes $1.7 million this season and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. He wasn’t going to re-sign with Detroit. Stecher really isn’t in Detroit’s future plans. He was disappointed that he sat at the start of the season.

After rejoining the Red Wings’ lineup, Stecher said he wasn’t happy when he wasn’t playing earlier in the season.

Disappointed Early

“When you come back from a summer and put in all that work and don’t get to start playing it’s obviously disappointing,” Stecher said. “When I got back in, I tried to take a lot of pride in my game. I felt I was coming out strong. Obviously I got injured, so that was unfortunate. Just excited to be back in the mix. Whether I’m playing or not, I got to push the guys, push our teammates, be the best teammate I can be and when I am playing try to be the best I can be.”

This marks the first season Stecher missed an extended period because of injury.

“Maybe double the time. (I’ve missed before),” he said. ’I’ve been fortunate in my career to stay somewhat healthy. If I have missed time it’s been pretty quick. It’s definitely been a long grind.”

Stecher had played extremely well for Team Canada at the World Championships last spring. He ended up assisting on the gold-medal clinching goal. That’s another reason why he may have anticipated more playing time early in the season

Steacher is considered an energetic player with some ability to skate the puck out of trouble. He played Saturday night against Seattle and a player got behind him on the tying goal of a 4-2 loss to the Kraken.