Mitchell Stephens (ice hockey)

Mitchell Stephens (born February 5, 1997) is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward. He is currently playing with the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League (AHL) as a prospect to the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League (NHL). Stephens was selected by the Lightning in the second round (33rd overall) of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.

Mitchell Stephens
Stephens at the 2018 AHL All-Star Game
Born (1997-02-05) February 5, 1997
Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 196 lb (89 kg; 14 st 0 lb)
Position Centre
Shoots Right
NHL team (P)
Cur. team		 Tampa Bay Lightning
Syracuse Crunch (AHL)
NHL Draft 33rd overall, 2015
Tampa Bay Lightning
Playing career 2016–present

Playing career

Amateur

In 2005-06 Stephens was known to frequent the Royal Bowl in Peterborough ON playing alongside his mentor Andrew King (Couch Scout) who helped Mitchell work on his laser of a wrist shot!

Stephens with the Saginaw Spirit in 2016.

Stephens was selected 8th overall by the Saginaw Spirit in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection draft.[1] His outstanding play with Saginaw was recognized when he was chosen to skate as a member of Canada Ontario at the 2014 World U-17 Hockey Challenge.[2] During the 2014–15 season, Stephens was chosen to skate at the 2015 CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game.[3]

In his final season with Saginaw in 2015–16, Stephens made 43 appearances, tallying 22 goals and 19 assists, while being named team MVP.[4] He missed a significant number of games due to a broken foot that season.[5]

Professional

On April 4, 2016, he penned a three-year entry-level contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning of the NHL.[6] and was sent to their farm team, Syracuse Crunch on an amateur try-out contract. He made his professional debut with the Crunch in the American Hockey League (AHL) on April 8, 2016.[7] On December 9, 2019, Stephens made his NHL debut in a 5-1 Lightning loss to the visiting New York Islanders at Amalie Arena.[8][9] On December 28, 2019, Stephens recorded his first career NHL goal in 5-4 Lightning win over the Montreal Canadiens.[10]

International play

Stephens competed as a member of Canada Ontario at the 2014 World U-17 Hockey Challenge. He was also invited to compete with the Canada men's national under-18 ice hockey team at the 2014 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament where he helped Team Canada win gold.[11] In April 2015, he captained the Canada men's national under-18 ice hockey team to a bronze medal as the 2015 IIHF World U18 Championships.[12]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs
Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2012–13 Toronto Marlboros GTMMHL 58 44 40 84 12 — — — — —
2013–14 Saginaw Spirit OHL 57 9 12 21 8 5 0 2 2 2
2014–15 Saginaw Spirit OHL 62 22 26 48 44 4 0 0 0 0
2015–16 Saginaw Spirit OHL 39 20 18 38 14 4 2 1 3 0
2015–16 Syracuse Crunch AHL 5 1 0 1 0 — — — — —
2016–17 Saginaw Spirit OHL 22 11 17 28 14 — — — — —
2016–17 London Knights OHL 29 11 14 25 12 14 7 3 10 2
2016–17 Syracuse Crunch AHL — — — — — 3 0 0 0 0
2017–18 Syracuse Crunch AHL 70 19 22 41 24 7 1 5 6 4
2018–19 Syracuse Crunch AHL 32 11 13 24 6 4 0 1 1 2
2019–20 Syracuse Crunch AHL 24 5 5 10 15 — — — — —
2019–20 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 38 3 3 6 10
NHL totals 38 3 3 6 10

International
Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
2014 Canada Ontario U17 5th 5 0 2 2 6
2014 Canada IH18 5 4 2 6 2
2015 Canada WJC18 7 5 5 10 10
2016 Canada WJC 6th 5 1 1 2 2
2017 Canada WJC 5 2 3 5 0
Junior totals 27 12 13 25 20

Awards and honours
Award Year
World U-17 Hockey Challenge Canada Ontario 2014 [13]
Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament Gold Medal 2014 [14]
CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game 2015 [15]
IIHF World U18 Championship Bronze Medal 2015 [16]
IIHF World U18 Championship Top 3 Player on Team 2015 [17]

References
  1. "2013 OHL Priority Selection coverage". Saginaw Spirit. July 15, 2013. Retrieved July 15, 2013.
  2. "Prospect report: Don't forget about Mitchell Stephens". penaltyboxradio.com. June 15, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  3. "Mitchell Stephens player profile". hockeyprospect.com. May 14, 2015. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  4. "Mitchell Stephens named Spirit MVP, signs contract with Tampa Bay". MLive.com. April 9, 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  5. "Lightning's Mitchell Stephens: Out indefinitely with broken foot". CBS Sports. April 9, 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  6. "Lightning sign forward Mitchell Stephens to three-year, entry-level contract". Tampa Bay Lightning. April 9, 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  7. "Syracuse Crunch lose in shootout to Albany Devils; playoff hopes barely alive". syracuse.com. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  8. @TBLightning (December 9, 2019). "Let's do this thing. Congrats, Mitchell Stephens!!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  9. "Varlamov, Nelson lead Islanders past Lightning 5-1". Fox Sports. December 9, 2019. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  10. "Steven Stamkos notches 800th career point as Lightning overcome slow start to top Canadiens". Fox Sports. December 28, 2019. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  11. "Mitchell Stephens scores in U18 opener". The Peterborough Examiner. August 23, 2014. Retrieved August 23, 2014.
  12. "U18 team set to open Worlds". Hockey Canada. April 14, 2015. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  13. "Ontario's 2014 World U17 team announced". gthlcanada.com. January 5, 2014. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  14. "Canada wins 2014 Ivan Hlinka gold medal". Hockey Canada. January 22, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  15. "CHL/NHL top prospects game rosters announced". Niagara Ice Dogs. February 3, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  16. "Stephens looking forward to NHL scouting combine". The Peterborough Examiner. April 28, 2015. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  17. "NHL draft profile 57: Mitchell Stephens". lastwordonsports.com. June 28, 2015. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Daniel Sprong		 AHL Rookie of the Month
January 2018		 Succeeded by
Janne Kuokkanen
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