Canucks Truck Stecher season continues

The Canucks blue-liner has become a Mister Dependable this season.

When you look at the Vancouver Canucks shots of the first 25 games of the 2018-19 season, one thing stands out: too many hits from the slot.

When you look at the same map, but when Troy Stecher is on the ice, the image changes dramatically.

The blows of the slot are no longer a thing.

In fact, the data shows that when Stecher is not on the ice, the Canucks drop the shots at a rate well above the average of the slot machine. when he is on the ice, the rate becomes well below average.

To say that the Richmond defenseman has a solid season is a euphemism.

"Let's be sober, that's what I've always learned from my old man," he explained about his approach to the match. "I did not really understand him very young, but I really understand him now."

The simple game of Stecher is obvious. He's really good at breaking into the Canucks and keeping out the ice. Honor skating and the meaning of intelligent hockey.

In November, just over one-third of opponents' entries in the Canucks area were made with puck control while Stecher defendedwhich is a very solid number. (As a comparison, against Erik Gudbranson, about twice as many entries into the opposing zone were made with puck control.)

Seven defensemen have occupied most of the Canucks ice this season and, at equal strength, are one minute off the ice. Chris Tanev is in the lead at 4:18 pm, Michael Del Zotto is the lowest at 15:06.

The 15:27 of Stecher place it well in the center.

When he is on the ice, the Canucks get 52% of the shots, which aligns perfectly with the aforementioned shots. (Offensive shots also show that the Canucks get a lot better shots with him than on the ice.)

Part of that high percentage of pitching attempts came from the fact that his coaches looked hard at Stecher when the team lost a goal – the Canucks played about a quarter of their ice time with equal strength when they lost a goal – a scenario that sees the team on the run get more shots than the team in the lead.

And although he made a solid contribution on equal terms, he did not have much ice time for the maneuvers. But after a dozen minutes of ice time with a decisive penalty, he achieved a solid performance, achieving the fewest shooting attempts (or the second least after Alex Edler), unblocked firing attempts and shots near the net. .

Stecher's sharp wit for the game appears when asked what the Canucks had to tighten up.

"These are small things, like making sure the puck is two feet from the blue line, skating an extra three feet to make sure it's not ice cream," he said. declared. "When we break a movie, it's what always seems to hurt us."

The team played well at the beginning of the year – with a bit of luck – and, according to the players, they did not manage to do well what they can control.

"Be specific in our details, such as when you come back on the back check, you stop a penny in front of the house, you do not take a big swing and your momentum takes you away from the area you want to protect," he said. Stecher said. from what they have seen in their post – match video review. "To be more direct about our failure before, knowing that we need a guy right now, you may not always get the puck, but it's not your job, it's to separate the puck. man of the puck, you just have to trust your teammates. will be there to help. "

Which brings us back to his father's lesson about the simplicity of their game.

"Everyone cares, everyone wants to win, I think sometimes it means you hold your stick too hard, you make more mistakes than you thought," said Stecher.

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