With Zach Hyman’s return to the lineup looming, the Edmonton Oilers made a pair of roster moves on Friday.
The Oilers placed defenceman Troy Stecher on waivers, also loaning rookie forward Isaac Howard to the American Hockey League’s Bakersfield Condors.
Stecher, 31, has dressed in six games for Edmonton this season, failing to record a point while logging an average of 13:37 of ice time.
The veteran blueliner was acquired by the Oilers via trade from the then-Arizona Coyotes during 2023-24 season, and inked a two-year deal to remain with the team over the summer.
A pending unrestricted free agent, Stecher has scored 22 goals and 117 points across 566 career games spent with the Vancouver Canucks, Detroit Red Wings, Los Angeles Kings, Coyotes, and Oilers.
Howard, 21, has appeared in 17 games for the Oilers to begin his rookie season, totaling two goals and an assist with 10 penalty minutes in his first taste of NHL action.
A 2025 Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner as the top player in college hockey, Howard was traded to Edmonton over the summer from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Sam O’Reilly.
The Hudson, Wisc. native was the 31st overall selection of the Lightning in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.
Hyman, 33, has been inching closer to making his season debut after undergoing surgery to repair a fractured wrist suffered in Game 4 of last year’s Western Conference Final.
The Toronto native missed the rest of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with the injury, and has yet to appear for Edmonton to begin the 2025-26 season.
Prior to Wednesday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers, head coach Kris Knoblauch revealed that Hyman would return before the team’s current seven-game road trip ends.
A fifth-round pick of the Florida Panthers in the 2010 draft, Hyman has recorded 230 goals and 213 assists across 653 career games split between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Oilers.
Edmonton enters play against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night with an 8-7-4 record, good for fourth place in the Pacific Division.
