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That was before the Canucks drafted Juolevi and signed Stecher, acquired Andrey Pedan and signed Alex Biega, acquired Erik Gudbranson and drafted Guillaume Brisebois and convinced Nikita Tryamkin to leave Russia. It was before Ben Hutton burst into the NHL straight from college hockey last season.

So much has changed since Subban entered the Canuck organization, the landscape is barely recognizable. A lot of players have come in after him and gone ahead of him, and that’s one of the reasons Subban was among a busload of 15 prospects assigned Wednesday to the Utica Comets for their American League training camp.

Subban’s risky defensive-zone play and his poor prospects’ tournament last week were also factors. And so was Stecher.

With nine defencemen who finished last season in the NHL, the Canucks defence isn’t a land of opportunity for any prospect this fall. But Stecher, four years older than Juolevi, is closer to competing for a spot than any of the others, so he was given the chance to play Wednesday.

Man, did he play.

“I can’t think that there’s not a spot open,” Stecher said. “I’ve got to come to the rink every day and try to earn a spot. That’s what I want – I want to be a Canuck. I want to play in Vancouver.

“I’m just trying to focus on myself and go out there and work hard. When game time comes, then you focus on the rest of the team and try to build relationships and chemistry with everyone. I just came to the rink today with the expectation to play and the mentality I had to play well.”