Why Does Udyr's Turtle Stance Give Life Steal?

There is not a real problem with how it currently works, however, I do believe that the persistent effect of life steal that turtle stance is given is a bit odd thematically. Turtle Stance is suppose to be Udyr's defensive stance. The Shield is good, and makes perfect sense, protection from damage, however, I personally believe it would make be more cohesive to make the stance's persistent effect increased Armor, and Magic Resist. I personally find the life steal to be negligible, and often promotes behavior that counteract the defensive nature of the spell. Without building major offensive items, the life steal would be almost useless, and due to Udyr's nature as a melee champion, he greatly needs defensive items. With this in mind, all I ever see his turtle stance used for is the shield effect, to be changed immediately. There is no real incentive to stay in turtle stance like there is to stay in other stances. Bear gives you a stun, so one may constantly remain in bear stance as they travel in order to give that stun in any unexpected encounters. Tiger gives additional damage on auto attack, so the more you stay in tiger, the more damage you do. Phoenix gives the extra AoE Cone damage every three hits, that can be very useful in team fights. Turtle Stance is stayed in to get a very small amount of health back in the jungle, which would just about have the same effect as a shield with a persistent armor increase. The life steal really has no application in team fights, I think that's the biggest issue I have. I would be more willing to stay in turtle stance during a team fight If I knew I was negating damage. Thanks to anyone who may have read this, and also, if you have any thoughts, please let me know, I would love to hear other peoples opinion on the matter.