Tampa Bay Lightning 2nd round pick in the 2015 draft (#33 overall) 3rd year center Mitchell Stephens(67) scores his first NHL recall after tallying 5 goals and 5 assists in 24 AHL games with affiliate Syracuse Crunch.
The 5’11” 193 lbs. forward is in the final season of his entry level deal and set to become a restricted free agent at the end of the current session.
In his debut he skated 15 shifts for 8:28 of ice time with 2 hits and went 80% at the face-off dot but was a -2 rating in a 5-1 loss.
He had 41 points as a rookie (19-22) but spent a good deal of his sophomore season on the sidelines with an injury although was able to post 11 goals and 13 assists in only 32 games.
Through 4 years of OHL, he was always a decent scorer, won the Hlinka Memorial Gold Medal with Team Canada as a 2nd year player and named team captain in his final campaign.
The 22-year old will likely perform as best he can while up in the show but if he gets reassigned look for him to take his minor league game up another notch to assure at least a one-year extension to continue down in Florida.