With training camp quickly approaching, there's one battle that may be overlooked and it very well could determine who takes the blue line on opening night - the one between Troy Stecher and Emil Andrae.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are heading into the 2026-27 season with a ton of expectations and hype. Not only because of the moves they made this past offseason, but the arrival of Gavin McKenna and the hope of a rejuvenated Auston Matthews has fans excited (even if ticket prices are rising).
But before we get to the puck dropping for game one of the regular season, we still have training camp and the preseason to get through, and while there are certainly going to be positional battles - there's one that seems to be a bit overlooked.
Stecher and Andrae are fighting for more than the same roster spot
There's a bit of a fight for the last spot in the Maple Leafs defensive group, and it comes down to Troy Stecher and Emil Andrae. Stecher is a player who earned an extension after a solid season that came after being picked up off waivers. He adds experience, some puck movement, and a relentless motor that never gives up.
Andrae is a player who was a central piece of the trade that sent Joseph Woll to the Philadelphia Flyers. He's much younger than Stecher at 24, he's an analytics darling, plays much more physical than his size may dictate, and he provides solid puck-movement and mobility.
Stecher has the experience edge meanwhile Andrae adds a lot more versatility to the lineup so it really depends on how Jim Hiller wants to utilize his defence. If he feels he's getting enough puck movement from players like Morgan Rielly, Darren Raddysh and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, then he could use Stecher a lot more to add some energy to the back end.
But if those players aren't doing as much offensively as they could, then Andrae is someone who can come in and give the offence on the blue line a different look.
Now, these players are both able to swap out depending on what Hiller needs, though it also depends heavily on the rest of the blue line and what they are able to do.
Toronto's final blue-line decision could reveal how aggressive Hiller wants to be in Year 1
While it doesn't guarantee that this is going to be the plan all season, if Hiller decides to go with Stecher then at least we know that he values the stability, experience, and familiarity that he brings to the blue line over the potential of Andrae.
It also means he's playing a little bit more conservatively and is hoping that his bigger offensive stars can produce, while Stecher can help supplement things on the third pair. You'll likely see Stecher alongside Oliver Ekman-Larsson if the Maple Leafs are going with a Rielly/Raddysh and McCabe/Tanev pairing ahead of them.
But if Andrae becomes the new guy in the lineup, then Hiller's aggressiveness may be coming out. It's riskier to give Andrae the keys, but there's also potential for him to become a better player than Stecher, while also being younger and under contract longer - giving him more time to grow with his teammates.
Stecher is going to need a strong camp to prove that he can still be an effective player despite still being a waiver pickup last year, and show that heart and engine that led the team to re-signing him this summer.
Andrae needs a strong camp in order to show that he was worth the price paid for him, and that his underlying analytics will help boost his chances - he needs to win battles, be quick, be efficient, and make good plays.
It's less about which of the two players is going to be the one sitting on opening night, but rather the specific game plan that Hiller wants to implement as he heads into his first game as the Maple leafs bench boss - and his decision will at least give us an idea of how he wants to approach his depth on the back end.
Also read on Hockey Patrol :
Maple Leafs may have a prospect developing much faster than anyone expected