Troy Stecher and Calle Jarnkrok spent last season as teammates with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but their paths are splitting again.
Stecher is staying in Toronto for another year. Jarnkrok, meanwhile, is headed back to Sweden after signing with Brynäs in the SHL on Monday. That’s the club he was with when the Red Wings made him the 51st overall pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.
“It’s something I’ve been longing for,” Jarnkrok, 34, told Swedish website Expressen.
Jarnkrok technically never played a game for Detroit, though he did spend two seasons with the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins. For a time, he was viewed as the top prospect in the organization before being traded to the Nashville Predators at the 2014 NHL trade deadline as part of the deal that brought veteran center David Legwand to the Red Wings.
Over 774 NHL games, Jarnkrok carved out a long career, though some would say it never quite matched the early hype. He spent most of that time as a reliable bottom-six forward, but he did reach at least 15 goals in four different seasons. His best scoring year came with Toronto in 2022-23, when he finished with 20 goals.
Stecher’s story has been the opposite in a lot of ways. The 32-year-old defenseman entered the league undrafted and at 5-foot-10 and 184 pounds was never the kind of player people expected to stick around for long. Instead, he has built a 624-game NHL career.
“I don’t think a lot of people ever thought I’d play one,” Stecher told the Grand Forks Herald. “Not to pump my own tires, but it’s not by luck. I really believe I’ve earned this opportunity.”
His time with Detroit covered 60 games from 2020 to 2022.
“I think the biggest thing to this point in my career is that I’ve always believed in myself,” Stecher said. “It didn’t really matter what outside people thought.
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