The Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled forward Mitchell Chaffee from the Syracuse Crunch. This is Chaffee’s second call-up of the season, with the 25-year-old making his debut with the Tampa Bay Lightning on December 12th. It was only the third game of Chaffee’s NHL career, with his other two appearances coming with the Minnesota Wild during the 2021-22 season. He’s yet to see a change in his stat line, though, going without a point or penalty, and having a -1 this season cancel out his +1 from two years ago.
Chaffee has also appeared in 33 AHL games this season, netting 11 goals and 25 points. It continues what’s been a productive AHL career for Chaffee, as he scored 23 goals and 39 points in 49 games last year and carries a career total of 88 points in 120 games. Chaffee kicked off his professional career in the 2020-21 season, signing as an undrafted free agent with the Minnesota Wild after the end of University of Massachusetts-Amherst’s season. He spent three seasons in the Wild organization before signing a one-year contract with Tampa this summer.
Chafee played two seasons with the USHL’s Bloomington Thunder before his collegiate career – the predecessor to the ECHL’s newest club, the Bloomington Bison, revealed on Wednesday. The Bison brings Bloomington its highest level of hockey, though the city has previously hosted the CHL’s Bloomington PrairieThunder, the SPHL’s Bloomington Thunder, and the USHL’s Thunder and Central Illinois Flying Aces.