The October blues are a common theme for the Toronto Maple Leafs, at least over the past decade or so. They always seem to start the season off tripping over themselves, before finding their groove in November and eventually coasting near the top of the division for the rest of the season. As we know all too well by now, the Leafs did not recover from the October blues this season. They eventually tanked their way down to fifth-last in the league, clinging to hope and a prayer that the draft lottery would swing in their favour and allow for them to keep their top-five protected pick.

Back before the season was a lost cause, around mid-November, the Leafs were struggling to get out of a funk and were seeing injuries stack up at an absurd rate. Chris Tanev was out, Brandon Carlo was out, and Anthony Stolarz went down right when Joseph Woll arrived. The Edmonton Oilers, off to a similarly bad start (albeit one that they would eventually shake off), placed defenceman Troy Stecher on waivers. And with the Maple Leafs in dire straits, especially on the right side of their defensive corps, they claimed him and he joined the team on November 18.

Stecher arrived in Toronto, and while he was used conservatively for the first couple of games, his sixth game with the team marked the beginning of a 10-game streak where he logged at least 20 minutes of ice time. He also recorded four points in his first seven games, including a goal in a win against the Florida Panthers. We’re talking about a guy who is the textbook definition of a journeyman (and he’ll be the first one to tell you that), someone who had played for six other teams before arriving in Toronto, and someone who has never held more than a depth role. And, here he is immediately taking on tough assignments for a team with a growing microscope on them.

Between Stecher’s fearless style of play on the ice for a smaller player (5-foot-10, 184 pounds), his contributions to their uptick in wins at the time, and his candidness when speaking to the media, Stecher became somewhat of a fan favourite early on. It was another example of Maple Leafs fans falling for the gritty, blue-collar style of player simply because they show up and work hard every night. It’s a tale as old as time and one that Stecher emboldened to a tee.

“I was excited,” Stecher said at the time when asked about getting claimed by the Leafs. “Obviously excited for a fresh start, seeing the team and how competitive they are and where they are in the standigs. It kind of goes hand in hand with the way I play, a lot of motivation. “I have a chip on my shoulder and I think the team does as well.”

He went on to talk about where his motivation comes from and pointed to his lack of security with the teams he had played for to date.

“It’s my tenth year [in the NHL], and it’s my seventh team, so I just want to prove people wrong and more than anything prove myself right. That’s where it comes from internally.”

As the season went on and the Maple Leafs got healthier, they relied on Stecher less, but unfortunately, time only delayed the inevitable. Stecher’s play dipped as the season played out, and his superhero efforts early on in the season went to waste as the team missed the playoffs for the first time in a decade.

Whoever the next Maple Leafs GM is will have to make a decision on Stecher, whose contract expires this season, and if the team plans to revamp their defensive corps, a solid bottom-pair defenceman who plays his heart out would probably be of interest. And Stecher would like to return, too.

“There is obviously a lot of uncertainty around the organization right now. Would I like to be back? Yeah. I really enjoyed playing there,” Stecher said on Overdrive following the season. “It was a great group of guys with a lot of good players. We had injuries to our captain and our best defenceman; not to make excuses, but those are two important people in our lineup.”