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They are the largest and smallest players on the Canucks, and about as dissimilar as you could imagine. Except Stecher and Tryamkin are both 22-year-olds who weren’t supposed to be in the NHL at this stage but suddenly look essential to the Canucks.

They are learning on the job in the best hockey league in the world.

“It can happen, but I don’t think it’s the best way,” Lidster said of developing defencemen in the NHL. “Development doesn’t mean just throwing them out there and keep playing them and playing them. To be honest, if Nik was in our opening lineup he probably would have just got frustrated because he wasn’t ready for it.”

Tryamkin was asked to start the season in the American Hockey League but refused, flexing an out-clause in his contract that allows him to return to Russia and the Kontinental Hockey League if the Canucks don’t keep him in the NHL. That clause was the carrot dangled by Canuck general manager Jim Benning to lure Tryamkin from Russia last March.

Partly because Tryamkin refused to budge, Stecher, an undrafted free agent from the University of North Dakota, was assigned to the Utica Comets after the pre-season despite appearing to every uneducated eye to be one of the Canucks’ top six defencemen.

A month into his pro career, Stecher is already on his second recall from the AHL and on Sunday scored his first NHL goal late in the third period to force overtime against the Dallas Stars in a game the Canucks won 5-4.