{"id":31238,"date":"2018-07-20T14:29:41","date_gmt":"2018-07-20T18:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=31238"},"modified":"2018-07-20T14:29:41","modified_gmt":"2018-07-20T18:29:41","slug":"rfa-troy-stecher-re-signs-with-vancouver-canucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2018\/07\/20\/rfa-troy-stecher-re-signs-with-vancouver-canucks\/","title":{"rendered":"RFA Troy Stecher Re-Signs with Vancouver Canucks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Vancouver Canucks<\/a> have re-signed restricted free agent defenseman Troy Stecher<\/a><\/strong> a two-year contract worth $4.65 million, or $2.325 million per season AAV. This contract expires at the end of the 2019-20 season.<\/p>\n

\n

WELCOME BACK: #Canucks<\/a> re-sign @troystecher<\/a> to a two-year deal. https:\/\/t.co\/CV92g6SwJ4<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) July 20, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Troy Stecher\u00a0Re-Signs with the Canucks<\/h1>\n

Originally an undrafted defenseman, Troy Stecher just wrapped up his\u00a0second full season at the NHL level. After a strong finish to his NCAA career at North Dakota, including a first all-star team placement as a senior, Stecher signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Canucks prior to 2016-17. He appeared in 71 games that first season\u00a0and followed that with 68 games in 2017-18.<\/p>\n

Stecher, 26, posted only one goal and\u00a0ten\u00a0assists for 11 points last year. This came in significantly lower than his rookie season, where he amassed three goals and 21 assists.\u00a0His ice time also dropped over a full minute per night on average to 18:49. If last season turns out to be one of those “sophomore slump” situations, his\u00a0stats should rebound.<\/p>\n

Further reasons for his decrease in production could be found in his usage. After a\u00a0rookie season in\u00a0which he started 51.2% of his shifts in the offensive zone,\u00a0he\u00a0started most of his shifts (51.5%)\u00a0in the defensive zone this season. He spent much more time on the second powerplay unit as a rookie as well,\u00a0ice time that\u00a0he’ll surely be fighting to reclaim.<\/p>\n

“Troy Stecher is an important part of our team,” said Canucks general manager Jim Benning<\/strong>. “He’s a talented two-way defenceman who competes every shift. Troy has a willingness to always improve his game and is an example of a young player committed to being a professional.”<\/p>\n

Next Season for Stecher<\/h2>\n

While his\u00a0numbers sagged,\u00a0Troy Stecher\u00a0is still young and only entering his third year of professional hockey. He should be given plenty of opportunities on a weaker Vancouver team too. Plenty of players struggle to find consistency after their rookie season, and Canucks fans are hoping he breaks out of his “sophomore slump” to regain the exciting promise he displayed two seasons ago.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Main Photo:\u00a0VANCOUVER, BC – APRIL 05: Vancouver Canucks Defenseman Troy Stecher (51) skates against the Arizona Coyotes during the first period in a NHL hockey game on April 05, 2018, at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC. (Photo by Bob Frid\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Vancouver Canucks have re-signed restricted free agent defenseman Troy Stecher a two-year contract worth $4.65 million, or $2.325 million per season AAV. This contract expires at the end of the 2019-20 season. WELCOME BACK: #Canucks re-sign @troystecher to a two-year deal. https:\/\/t.co\/CV92g6SwJ4 \u2014 Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) July 20, 2018 Troy Stecher\u00a0Re-Signs with the Canucks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2377,"featured_media":31261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34,26],"tags":[662,1153,2545,158],"class_list":["post-31238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-canucks","tag-nhl-free-agency","tag-north-dakota-fighting-hawks","tag-troy-stecher","tag-vancouver-canucks"],"modified_by":"Ben Kerr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2377"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}