Oilers defenceman Troy Stecher might draw short straw if Mattias Ekholm returns but that’s fine with him

When an NHL player is hurt in the postseason, the hoary cliché is  “next man up,” but when you’re the ultimate battler, Troy Stecher, and you have been that next man until, uh, the first man Mattias Ekholm looks like he’s coming back, then what?

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“He’s a better player than me, that’s the reality of the world and the business we live in,” said Stecher, the Edmonton Oiler defender, who’s never been a moper or a griper, just a teammate whose head is firmly wrapped around the obvious, that Ekholm, who may return for Game 4 against Dallas, is one of the NHL’s best defencemen.

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“He’s probably our 1a or 1b, depending on how you look at Bouch (Evan Bouchard), one, what the public thinks he is. He’s an elite defenceman in this league. He played in the 4 Nations, he’s played for Team Sweden. He’s been to the Cup final in Nashville (and here last spring). If healthy, I want him playing. Yeah, if I’m out, I will be disappointed, but he gives us a better chance to win,” said Stecher.

Taking one for the team. Honest stuff.

“I want to win a Stanley Cup, man. I don’t want to talk poorly, but my time in Vancouver wasn’t very good, we weren’t very good in Arizona or Detroit. I just want to play on a contender… obviously I want to be in the line-up but at the end of the day, it’s not my decision,” said Stecher.

Nope. If Ekholm, who hasn’t played any of the Oilers’ playoff games, and none since April 11 against the San Jose Sharks here, returns Tuesday, it will be head coach Kris Knoblauch’s call, along with Paul Coffey, who handles the defence.

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Stecher has been excellent as Darnell Nurse’s partner, but he could draw the short straw if they decide Ekholm is ready and they go with six D. Or, maybe they act prudently and go with seven D and 11 forwards, and give Ekholm limited minutes to see how he is after significant undisclosed lower-body injury.

Stecher, a small guy (184 lbs.) with a big heart like Kris Russell when he was here, has battled his lack of size for close to 600 NHL games. He’s had a chip on his shoulder, as he should, because smaller players always have to prove they can play while big guys have to prove they can’t in the coach’s eyes.

This situation now, maybe coming out for Ekholm, seems a metaphor for his career.

“Yeah, that’s fair. I wouldn’t have it any other way. There’s no bad days in this league. I love what I do. Some days I maybe worry about my spot or my role. There were probably some long nights in regular season where I went home and was pretty concerned.  But you wake up the next morning, put your hard hat and your work boots on, and you get to the rink,” he said.

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“That’s something my dad instilled in me at a young age. He said there’s only two things you can control, your work ethic and your attitude,” said Stecher, whose father, Peter, who sold aluminum, copper and brass. He away in July of 2020 at 65, of complications from diabetes.

“He sold all the hand-railings at Rogers Arena in Vancouver,” said Troy, proudly.

Safety first, although hockey players don’t always think that at playoff time, including Stecher throwing his body in the way of shots or battling bigger guys.

Ekholm itching to return

Ekholm wanted back in a while back, thought he was ready. But the Oilers have been winning, so why rush him?

“I’m really happy with our D corps so far,” said Ekholm, who doesn’t know if he’ll be eased into the line-up to see how his body holds up, or they play him with Bouchard for his usual 20 minutes, on the PK, against the other team’s best player even strength.

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“That’s for the coaches. If you asked my head, I want to be back where I usually am, but my body may have a different say in that,” said Ekholm, who has been up in the pressbox watching, and he’s a cheerleader but a terrible spectator.

“I’ve never been hurt in the playoffs before, and being hurt and knowing it would be a long stretch has been nerve-wracking, but with the guys (defence) doing so well…I’ve gotten used to it (sitting). But, it’s not something I want to do anymore,” said Ekholm, who has a different perspective, of course, from up high.

“You think anybody can play in the NHL from the 500 level. You’re thinking, ‘Why did you make that pass?’ Then, you’re on the ice and it’s the best league in the world.”

Brown out

Connor Brown won’t be playing Game 4, maybe out with concussion protocol after the Alex Petrovic caught-in-the-train-tracks hit in the second period. Brown turned from the boards and was run over.

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Knoblauch engaged in a playoff exchange with a media guy on the play.

“How did you see the hit?” asked a scribe.

“Possibly the same way you saw it,” said Knoblauch.

“I thought it was a hard hit,” said the scribe.

“Hard would have been part of my answer, yeah,” laughed Knoblauch.

“And not clean is the second part?” he was asked.

“Those are your words, not mine,” chuckled Knoblauch, refusing to bite on an assessment.

The Oilers coach isn’t happy to lose his third-line winger, who has five goals and eight points. There was no penalty on the play, no second look by the NHL’s Player Safety people, but Knoblauch may have felt Petrovic caught Brown up high, even though it seemed a shoulder block by a 6-foot-4, 220-pound player on a smaller six-footer who is 184 pounds. Maybe the shoulder did ride up into Brown’s face, but the head didn’t seem to be the target.

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“I saw the puck coming towards him. I tried to make a hockey play and finish my check. I certainly wasn’t trying to hurt him,” said the local product Petrovic.

Whatever, Brown, already playing on a bad foot after blocking a shot in the Vegas series, is out, which hurts their PK unit. They would likely insert Viktor Arvidsson if they go with 12 forwards and not 11 and 7 D. Arvidsson has sat since Kasperi Kapanen replaced him for Game 4 against Vegas.

Goalie juggling

Do the Oilers stick with Pick?

Not anymore. While goalie Calvin Pickard was stopping shots with his teammates Monday at a nearly full skate, he’s not supplanting Stu Skinner anytime soon. But Pickard, who came out of the Oiler bullpen to win six straight playoff games until suffering a lower-body problem when Tomas Hertl fell on the back of his leg in the crease in Game 2 against Vegas, will likely back up Skinner Tuesday.

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Nobody’s saying what Pickard’s injury was exactly. It could have been an ankle he twisted after Hertl fell on the bent Pickard leg. But he’s back.

“I knew when it happened, right away, it wasn’t great. Obviously you all saw that it was an awkward collision, kind of a freak play,” said Pickard.

“I was running on straight adrenaline the rest of the game (OT winner by Leon Draisaitl), obviously a big win. The next 36 hours until the next morning skate before Game 3, I tried to fool my brain into thinking I was OK. But I came out and tried to skate, and it wasn’t good.”

“When it happened, I didn’t think I would be back. Credit to our medical staff having me dialled in (with the proper treatment),” he said.

He’s been a spectator for the last six games with Skinner pitching three shutouts, and Sunday’s game against Dallas, when he was outstanding, giving up just one goal.

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Pickard has been Skinner’s biggest booster, cheering him on as he goes into the dressing room after wins. It’s very much a partnership here.

“He’s been awesome, no surprise to me. Very impressive for a guy of his age (26), the mental hurdles he’s gone through. He always bounces back,” said Pickard, seconding Skinner’s opinion that goalies are always under the microscope. They pick the position when they’re young, but the pressure’s not vise-like when you’re 13.

“The goalie is always the centre of attention. You might like it as a kid, but you get to this level and there’s a lot of pressure. He’s been fun to watch, though,” said Pickard.

This ‘n that: Stars centre Roope Hintz who didn’t play Game 3 after Nurse slashed him on the foot in Game 2 in Dallas, was on the ice for an optional skate Monday. “You want to go every night but sometimes you just can’t,” said Hintz, who was on the ice for about five minutes of the pre-game warmup Sunday, but that was it. “I don’t know how close I (was),” he told reporters. His coach Pete DeBoer says he has his fingers crossed that his No. 1 centre can return. “He’ll try again in warmup.”… Courtesy 1440’s Jason Gregor, since Game 4 against Vegas, the Oilers have only given up 10 high danger chances off the rush, and six came in the 6-3 loss in Game 1 in Dallas… Being out-scored 9-1 the last two games to the Oilers has taken the good vibes out of the Dallas room after they opened with a 6-3 win. “I don’t think we’re a light, fun bunch,” said DeBoer, when asked if he had one player who could keep things light. “I had Joe Thornton and Brent Burns walking shirtless down the street in the Cup final (San Jose). We aren’t them. We’re more of a serious bunch.”

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