Add one more to the tally of Syracuse Crunch graduates that have made their debut on the Tampa Bay Lightning. The list is long, with most players still on the NHL roster today, now including one more forward: Mitchell Stephens.
The 22-year-old center was in the middle of his third full season with the Crunch, amassing 36 goals and 76 points in 131 regular season games. Stephens is a good player by AHL standards, a genuine top-six player.
The Lightning had other, more bona-fide options to call up to the NHL, including Danick Martel, Luke Witkowski, or even a return for Alex Volkov, they still decided they wanted to give this right-shot kid a chance.