Mitchell Stephens (ice hockey)

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Mitchell Stephens
Mitchell Stephens.jpg
Stephens with the Syracuse Crunch in 2018
Born (1997-02-05) February 5, 1997 (age 24)
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
Former teams		 Detroit Red Wings
Tampa Bay Lightning
NHL Draft 33rd overall, 2015
Tampa Bay Lightning
Playing career 2016–present

Mitchell Stephens (born February 5, 1997) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). Stephens was selected by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round (33rd overall) of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. Stephens won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Lightning in 2020 and 2021.

Early life[]

Stephens was born on February 5, 1997, in Peterborough, Ontario[1] to parents Lee and Heather.[2] He is the cousin of Owen Tippett, another ice hockey player.[3]

Playing career[]

Amateur[]

Growing up in Peterborough, Stephens played in the Peterborough Minor Hockey Council’s AAA Petes program before joining the Toronto Marlboros of the Greater Toronto Hockey League.[4] While playing with the Minor Midget AAA Toronto Marlboros, Stephens helped lead the team to a Kraft Cup title and Scotiabank GTHL Playoffs championship during the 2012–13 season. He reached this achievement by recording 44 goals and 84 points in 58 regular-season games.[5] As a result of his play, Stephens was drafted eighth overall by the Saginaw Spirit in the 2013 Ontario Hockey League (OHL) Priority Selection draft.[6]

Major junior career[]

Stephens with the Saginaw Spirit in 2016.

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.[7] During the 2014–15 season, Stephens was chosen to skate at the 2015 CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game.[8]

In his final season with Saginaw in 2015–16, Stephens made 43 appearances, tallying 22 goals and 19 assists, while being named team MVP.[9] He missed a significant number of games due to a broken foot that season.[10]

On April 4, 2016, Stephens penned a three-year entry-level contract with the Lightning[11] and was sent to their American Hockey League (AHL) team, the Syracuse Crunch, on an amateur try-out contract. He subsequently made his professional debut with the Crunch on April 8, 2016.[12] He finished the season with the Crunch, recording one goal in five games.[1] Upon returning to the OHL for the 2016–17 season, Stephens was named captain of the Spirit with alternates Kris Bennett, C.J. Garcia, and Keaton Middleton.[13] He remained captain of the team until January 2017 when he was traded to the London Knights in exchange for various draft picks. At the time of the trade, Stephens scored 62 goals to rank 14th all-time in franchise history.[14] However, Stephens played only 29 regular season games with the Knights and 14 playoff games before returning to the Crunch.[1]

Professional[]

On December 9, 2019, Stephens made his NHL debut in a 5–1 Lightning loss to the visiting New York Islanders at Amalie Arena.[15][16] On December 28, 2019, Stephens recorded his first career NHL goal in 5–4 Lightning win over the Montreal Canadiens.[17] On August 3, 2020, Stephens skated in his first career NHL playoff game. In that game Stephens also recorded his first career NHL playoff goal and point.[18] As a result, he signed a two year contract extension to remain with the Lightning on October 7, 2020.[19]

Detroit Red Wings[]

On July 30, 2021, Stephens was traded to the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for a sixth-round pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.[20] While attending the Red Wings training camp, Stephens earned praise from coach Jeff Blashill for his skating ability and energy while projecting he would play on their fourth line.[21]

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.[22] 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.[23]

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 7 1 0 1 2
2020–21 Syracuse Crunch AHL 4 1 7 8 0 — — — — —
2020–21 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 7 0 1 1 0 — — — — —
NHL totals 45 3 4 7 10 7 1 0 1 2

International[]

Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
2014 Canada Ontario U17 5th 5 0 2 2 6
2014 Canada IH18 1st place, gold medalist(s) 5 4 2 6 2
2015 Canada WJC18 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 7 5 5 10 10
2016 Canada WJC 6th 5 1 1 2 2
2017 Canada WJC 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 5 2 3 5 0
Junior totals 27 12 13 25 20

Awards and honours[]

Award Year
CHL
CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game 2015 [24]
NHL
Stanley Cup (Tampa Bay Lightning) 2020 [25]
International
World U-17 Hockey Challenge Canada Ontario 2014 [26]
Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament Gold Medal 2014 [27]
IIHF World U18 Championship Bronze Medal 2015 [28]
IIHF World U18 Championship Top 3 Player on Team 2015 [29]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c "Mitchell Stephens". Elite Prospects. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  2. ^ Davies, Mike (December 12, 2019). "NHL debut a dream come true for Mitchell Stephens". The Peterborough Examiner. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  3. ^ Nugent-Bowman, Daniel. "Break Away". Sportsnet. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  4. ^ Davies, Mike (April 5, 2013). "Peterborough natives Mitchell Stephens, Jordan MacLean hopefuls in Saturday's OHL draft". The Peterborough Examiner. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  5. ^ Carafa, Nicholas (December 18, 2015). "Breakout Star of the Month: Mitchell Stephens". GTHL. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  6. ^ "Spirit Select Mitchell Stephens with 8th Overall Pick". Saginaw Spirit. April 6, 2018. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  7. ^ "Prospect report: Don't forget about Mitchell Stephens". penaltyboxradio.com. June 15, 2015. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  8. ^ "Mitchell Stephens player profile". hockeyprospect.com. May 14, 2015. Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  9. ^ "Mitchell Stephens named Spirit MVP, signs contract with Tampa Bay". MLive.com. April 9, 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  10. ^ "Lightning's Mitchell Stephens: Out indefinitely with broken foot". CBS Sports. April 9, 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  11. ^ "Lightning sign forward Mitchell Stephens to three-year, entry-level contract". National Hockey League. April 4, 2016. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  12. ^ Barbosa, Victoria (April 9, 2016). "Syracuse Crunch lose in shootout to Albany Devils; playoff hopes barely alive". Syracuse. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  13. ^ "SPIRIT NAME MITCHELL STEPHENS CAPTAIN; BENNETT, GARCIA, MIDDLETON ALTERNATES". Saginaw Spirit. October 4, 2016. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  14. ^ "SAGINAW SPIRIT MOVE MITCHELL STEPHENS TO LONDON KNIGHTS". Saginaw Spirit. January 9, 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  15. ^ @TBLightning (December 9, 2019). "Let's do this thing. Congrats, Mitchell Stephens!!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  16. ^ "Varlamov, Nelson lead Islanders past Lightning 5-1". Fox Sports. December 9, 2019. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  17. ^ "Steven Stamkos notches 800th career point as Lightning overcome slow start to top Canadiens". Fox Sports. December 28, 2019. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  18. ^ "Peterborough native Mitchell Stephens scores first NHL playoff goal". The Peterborough Examiner. August 3, 2020. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  19. ^ "Lightning re-sign forward Mitchell Stephens to two-year contract". Sportsnet. October 7, 2020. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  20. ^ Kujawa, Kyle (July 30, 2021). "Detroit acquires center Mitchell Stephens from Tampa Bay". National Hockey League. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  21. ^ "Mitchell Stephens making case for Red Wings' fourth-line center spot". MLive. September 26, 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2021.
  22. ^ "Mitchell Stephens scores in U18 opener". The Peterborough Examiner. August 23, 2014. Retrieved August 23, 2014.
  23. ^ "U18 team set to open Worlds". Hockey Canada. April 14, 2015. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  24. ^ "CHL/NHL top prospects game rosters announced". Niagara Ice Dogs. February 3, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  25. ^ "Tampa Bay Lightning win Stanley Cup in Pandemic Bubble". New York Times. September 28, 2020. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  26. ^ "Ontario's 2014 World U17 team announced". gthlcanada.com. January 5, 2014. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  27. ^ "Canada wins 2014 Ivan Hlinka gold medal". Hockey Canada. January 22, 2014. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  28. ^ "Stephens looking forward to NHL scouting combine". The Peterborough Examiner. April 28, 2015. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
  29. ^ "NHL draft profile 57: Mitchell Stephens". lastwordonsports.com. June 28, 2015. Retrieved June 28, 2015.

External links[]

Awards and achievements
Preceded by AHL Rookie of the Month
January 2018 		Succeeded by
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