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Mitchell Stephens

Waiver Wire: 10/1/24

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28 players hit the waiver wire Tuesday, per PuckPedia. It’s a sharp increase from yesterday’s 12 names as more veterans are assigned to the minors later in camp. All of yesterday’s waived players cleared, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports. Today’s waiver placements are as follows:

Anaheim Ducks

F Carson Meyer

Buffalo Sabres

F Joshua Dunne
F Mason Jobst
F Brett Murray
D Colton Poolman
D Jack Rathbone
G Felix Sandström

Calgary Flames

D Ilya Solovyov

Edmonton Oilers

G Collin Delia
D Ben Gleason
D Philip Kemp
F Lane Pederson

Los Angeles Kings

D Jacob Moverare

Minnesota Wild

F Reese Johnson

New York Rangers

F Anton Blidh
G Louis Domingue
D Casey Fitzgerald
D Brandon Scanlin

Seattle Kraken

F Brandon Biro
F Max McCormick
F Ben Meyers
D Gustav Olofsson
F Mitchell Stephens
G Ales Stezka

Vancouver Canucks

F Phillip Di Giuseppe
G Jiří Patera
F Nathan Smith
D Christian Wolanin

Minor Free Agent Signings: Pacific Division

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With over 180 deals signed during the first day of free agency yesterday, some smaller names may have gotten lost in the shuffle. Here’s a list of names that have inked two-way deals with Pacific Division clubs since the market opened yesterday, per CapFriendly. Some of these may have been included in our main coverage yesterday, while others went under the radar. All contracts carry the league-minimum $775K cap hit unless stated otherwise). Those listed here are likely to begin 2024-25 with each team’s AHL affiliate.

Anaheim Ducks

none

Calgary Flames

G Devin Cooley (two years)
F Martin Frk (one year)

Edmonton Oilers

D Connor Carrick (one year)
G Collin Delia (one year)
F James Hamblin (two years)
D Noel Hoefenmayer (one year)
F Noah Philp (one year)

Los Angeles Kings

F Glenn Gawdin (two years)
F Tyler Madden (one year)
F Jack Studnicka (one year)
D Reilly Walsh (one year)

San Jose Sharks

D Lucas Carlsson (two years, $800K cap hit)
D Jimmy Schuldt (one year)

Seattle Kraken

F Brandon Biro (one year)
D Nikolas Brouillard (one year)
D Maxime Lajoie (one year)
F Mitchell Stephens (two years)

Vancouver Canucks

G Jiří Patera (one year)
F Nathan Smith (one year)

Vegas Golden Knights

F Zach Aston-Reese (one year)

Mitchell Stephens Clears Waivers, Canadiens Send Justin Barron Down

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1/23: Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reports that Stephens went unclaimed on waivers, and will now report to Laval.

1/22: The Montreal Canadiens have placed forward Mitchell Stephens on waivers and loaned defenseman Justin Barron to the AHL’s Laval Rockets. Stephens started the season in Laval, clearing waivers ahead of the season’s start. He scored 12 points in 16 AHL games before joining Montreal on December 1st. Meanwhile, Barron is slated for his first stint with Laval, after playing in 41 of Montreal’s 46 games this season. The 22-year-old defenseman has managed 12 points in that stretch, a step down from the 15 points he recorded in 39 games with Montreal last season. Barron also recorded 16 points in 25 AHL games last year.

While Stephens has already cleared waivers once this season, his depth has proven valuable throughout his eight-year professional career. Stephens was originally drafted 33rd overall in the 2015 NHL Draft, just a few picks before the Carolina Hurricanes drafted Sebastian Aho. He made his professional debut in the following year, playing five AHL games at the end of the 2015-16 season. He returned to juniors in the following season, but played his first full pro season in 2017-18, scoring 41 points in 70 games with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. That year’s scoring remains Stephens’ career-high, although he matched it in 68 games during Laval’s 2022-23 season. The 26-year-old forward has only played in 95 career NHL games, recording 16 points and 22 penalty minutes. He’s also recorded 219 career AHL games and 137 points.

Atlantic Notes: Perron, Sergachev, Lundell, Stephens

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While Red Wings winger David Perron’s six-game suspension was upheld yesterday by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and the six games have already been served, the appeal process isn’t over just yet.  Perron’s agent Allan Walsh tweeted that his client (in conjunction with the NHLPA) will exercise the option to further appeal to a neutral arbitrator.  At this point, the value in doing so would be a potential return of forfeited salary – Perron lost over $148K due to the suspension – as well as simply lowering the number of games for comparative purposes should a similar incident happen again.

More from the Atlantic:

  • Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev will miss tonight’s game against Washington, notes NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti (Twitter link). The 25-year-old missed Thursday’s victory over Vegas due to a lower-body injury and did not accompany the team on this trip.  Head coach Jon Cooper noted that the hope is that Sergachev will be ready to return after the holiday break.  His production is down a bit this season compared to his 64-point outing last season but Sergachev still has 19 points in 33 games so far.
  • The Panthers will welcome back center Anton Lundell today against Vegas, relays team reporter Jameson Olive (Twitter link). The 22-year-old has missed the last four games due to illness but was recently activated off injured reserve.  Lundell is off to a slow start to his third NHL season as he has just two goals and ten assists in his first 28 games.
  • Canadiens center Mitchell Stephens played in his tenth game of the year Friday against Chicago. This means that he will have to pass through waivers in order to return to the minors.  Stephens cleared waivers back in the preseason but was recalled at the beginning of the month.  He has a goal in those ten appearances while winning a little over 55% of his faceoffs.

Canadiens Recall Mitchell Stephens

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The Canadiens recalled veteran utility forward Mitchell Stephens from the AHL’s Laval Rocket on Friday, according to a team announcement. The news comes after top-six forward Alex Newhook sustained a lower-body injury in last night’s game against the Panthers, suggesting he’ll miss some time.

This is Stephens’ first recall since signing with the Canadiens as a free agent in 2022. The 26-year-old, who has amassed 72 NHL games with the Lightning and Red Wings over the past five years, failed to crack the Canadiens’ roster out of camp in back-to-back seasons and has instead spent the entirety of his Montreal tenure on assignment with Laval. He last skated in the NHL in 2021-22, suiting up in just 27 games with the Red Wings as he missed most of the season with a lower-body injury.

Stephens, who played just 28 AHL games between 2019 and 2022, has taken his return to full-time duty in the minors in stride. He’s off to a good start this season, recording three goals and 12 points through 16 games with the Rocket. The 2015 second-round pick of the Lightning has always been a solid producer at the lower level, notching 137 points in 219 career AHL games across eight seasons.

Stephens is the highest-scoring player among the likely call-up options for the Canadiens at this stage. Team points leader Joshua Roy, selected 150th overall in 2021, is still just 20 years old. The Canadiens likely want to keep Roy with Laval to aid in his development. Second-leading scorer Brandon Gignac is not signed to an NHL contract, while Sean Farrell, who’s tied with Stephens in points, is out indefinitely with an injury sustained this week.

Without the need for a center in the lineup (Newhook was playing on the wing), Stephens will likely sit as a healthy scratch for Saturday’s game against his former team, the Red Wings. Instead, grinder Michael Pezzetta will likely enter the lineup in Newhook’s absence after sitting as a healthy scratch for the last two games.

Stephens, who signed a one-year, two-way deal with a salary guarantee of $385K to remain a Hab last summer, will be an unrestricted free agent in 2024.

Waivers: 9/30/23

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With the start of the NHL season now just ten days away, daily waiver activity will be continuing league-wide.  Here is a listing of the players that are on the wire today per various team announcements and TSN’s Chris Johnston (Twitter link).

Buffalo Sabres

G Devin Cooley
F Justin Richards
G Dustin Tokarski

Edmonton Oilers

F Drake Caggiula
F Greg McKegg

Montreal Canadiens

D Nicolas Beaudin
F Lucas Condotta
D Brady Keeper
F Mitchell Stephens

Nashville Predators

F Anthony Angello
D Kevin Gravel
G Troy Grosenick
D Jordan Gross

New York Rangers

F Jake Leschyshyn

Ottawa Senators

F Josh Currie
D Dillon Heatherington
F Garrett Pilon
D Lassi Thomson

While Ottawa’s players were announced as being waived on Friday, it was after the 1 PM CT cut-off which means their waiver clock starts today.

Vegas Golden Knights

F Byron Froese
D/F Mason Geertsen
D Dysin Mayo
F Gage Quinney
F Sheldon Rempal
F Jonas Rondbjerg

Most of the forwards on this list have cleared waivers in the past with Condotta being the lone exception as this is his first time eligible for waivers.  He spent most of last season in the minors but scored in his lone NHL appearance.  Quinney and Rempal were productive in the minors last season, averaging just shy of a point per game while Caggiula had over 50 points as well.

Among the defensemen, Thomson could be one to keep an eye on for a potential claim.  The 23-year-old was the 19th overall pick in 2019 and is still on his entry-level contract.  He hasn’t had much success at the NHL level so far but as a young right-shot defender, a rebuilding team or two might be inclined to take a flyer on him.

Mayo logged nearly 21 minutes a night on the back end for Arizona back in 2021-22 but cleared waivers last season and was eventually traded to Vegas in exchange for Shea Weber’s LTIR-eligible contract.  He has two years left on a one-way deal worth $950K per season which could scare teams off.  Beaudin is a former first-rounder himself back in 2018 (27th overall) but has just 22 NHL games under his belt, none of which came last season between Montreal and Chicago.

Grosenick and Tokarski are no strangers to the waiver wire.  Tokarski has cleared all five times while Grosenick has cleared six out of eight times he has been waived over the years.  This will be Cooley’s first time on waivers but while he had a decent season in Nashville’s system last season (posting a .909 SV% with AHL Milwaukee), it would be surprising to see him picked up.

Each player will be available to teams until 1 PM CT on Sunday.

Montreal Canadiens Re-Sign Mitchell Stephens

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Center Mitchell Stephens has a new contract for 2023-24, re-signing with the Montreal Canadiens on a one-year, two-way deal. Per CapFriendly, the deal pays him $775K in the NHL and $300K in the minors, carrying a minimum guaranteed salary of $385K.

The 26-year-old Ontario-born forward was a restricted free agent this offseason, although he didn’t file for salary arbitration despite being eligible.

Stephens didn’t see any NHL ice last season, spending the entire campaign in the AHL for the first time since 2018-19. In 68 games with the Laval Rocket, he registered 20 goals and 21 assists for 41 points, finishing third on the team in scoring.

He is a reliable NHL call-up option if Montreal wants a more veteran presence. He’s accumulated 72 NHL games over three seasons with the Detroit Red Wings and Tampa Bay Lightning, scoring three goals and 13 points while largely playing in a fourth-line role.

Selected 33rd overall in 2015 by Tampa Bay, it doesn’t appear a full-time NHL role is in Stephens’ future. However, he’ll lock down a top-six role again in Laval next season.

Re-signing Stephens leaves Montreal with four RFAs still to sign: center Alex Newhook, left wing Lucas Condotta, right wing Jesse Ylonen, and left defenseman Nicolas Beaudin.

Canadiens Re-Sign Mitchell Stephens

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With the arbitration deadline fast approaching, Montreal has taken care of one of their arbitration-eligible players as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that they’ve re-signed Mitchell Stephens to a one-year, two-way contract.  The deal will pay $775K in the NHL and $300K in the AHL with a total guarantee of $385K, a $10K raise on the guaranteed part of his contract last season.

The 26-year-old signed with Montreal last summer after being non-tendered by the Red Wings.  However, after spending all of 2021-22 in the NHL, Stephens passed through waivers unclaimed in training camp and was assigned to AHL Laval where he spent the entire season.  Last year, he played in 68 games with the Rocket, collecting 20 goals and 21 assists.

Stephens has a total of 72 career NHL games under his belt between Detroit and Tampa Bay, picking up three goals and ten assists.  With the Canadiens having somewhat of a forward surplus already, it seems likely that Stephens will be back on waivers in training camp and will look to play his way into a recall during the season.  While Montreal retained his rights by issuing a qualifying offer last week, this is Stephens’ final season of eligibility; he’ll be an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Waivers: 10/04/22

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After all of the players from yesterday cleared, there is a new batch of talent on waivers today. Placement here is usually indicative of a training camp cut, though not necessarily. It gives teams the option to send a player to the minor leagues, but that doesn’t have to happen right away. Until a player spends 30 days on the active roster or plays in ten regular season games, they won’t have to clear waivers again.

Here are the players on waivers today:

Boston Bruins

Oskar Steen
Nick Wolff
Connor Carrick

Buffalo Sabres

Sean Malone

Chicago Blackhawks

Luke Philp
Nicolas Beaudin
Dylan Sikura
Brett Seney

Columbus Blue Jackets

Brendan Gaunce

Minnesota Wild

Zane McIntyre

Montreal Canadiens

Alex Belzile
Anthony Richard
Mitchell Stephens

New Jersey Devils

Tyler Wotherspoon
Robbie Russo
Joseph Gambardella
Jeremy Groleau

Pittsburgh Penguins

Taylor Fedun

Vancouver Canucks

Collin Delia
John Stevens
Noah Juulsen
Brady Keeper
Guillaume Brisebois

Troy Stecher, Mitchell Stephens Out Through Olympic Break

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The Detroit Red Wings have updated a pair of long-term injuries, as both Troy Stecher and Mitchell Stephens will be out through the February Olympic break. Stecher underwent wrist surgery, while Stephens is dealing with a lower-body injury.

Stecher has played just six games so far this season, and he’ll miss another few months as the Olympic break doesn’t end until February 22. The 27-year-old defenseman was such a difference-maker at this year’s World Championship that it appeared as though he might be taking a step forward, but through those six games he averaged fewer than 15 minutes and had just a single point for the rebuilding Red Wings.

Stephens meanwhile had suited up 16 times for Detroit this year, only leaving the lineup after suffering an injury on November 13. The 24-year-old forward hadn’t registered a goal yet, but did have four assists through those games as he filled in as a bottom-six center option.

The Red Wings have come back to earth recently after a nice start to their season, and now sit 8-9-3 on the year. Still extremely young, mounting injuries will only test their depth even further. While they are technically just a few points out of the playoffs, a four-game losing streak and -13 goal differentially certainly don’t have them heading in the right direction.

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