Lightning Acquire Ian Mitchell From Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings have acquired forwards Wojciech Stachowiak and Michael Milne from the Tampa Bay Lightning for defenseman Ian Mitchell. Each player will report to their respective AHL clubs.
It’s a wholly understandable trade by the Red Wings. Now, without Dylan Larkin and Andrew Copp for the next few weeks, Detroit has recalled Sheldon Dries, Dominik Shine, Eduards Tralmaks, and Austin Watson over the last few days, leaving the Grand Rapids Griffins without some of their best forwards.
Although Stachowiak isn’t a well-known talent in North America, he certainly is in Germany. The 26-year-old winger has played for Germany in several IIHF World Championships over the past few years, scoring seven goals and accumulating 21 points in 25 games. He also played for Germany at the recent Olympics, recording one assist in two contests.
In 38 games for the Syracuse Crunch this season, Stachowiak has recorded nine goals and 17 points with a -6 rating. Although it’s his first time playing professionally in North America, Stachowiak spent two years at Michigan State University in the late 2010s, scoring four goals and five points in 40 games.
At 23 years old, Milne is a more recognized talent in the AHL compared to Stachowiak. He’s in his fourth professional season after being selected with the 89th overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft by the Minnesota Wild. Throughout his AHL career, he has registered 32 goals and 66 points in 191 games with a -35 rating, mostly spent with the Iowa Wild.
Of all the players changing hands in this trade, Mitchell has the most NHL experience. He was in his first year with the Red Wings organization after signing as an unrestricted free agent last summer. In 45 games for the Griffins, the 27-year-old veteran has scored four goals and 20 points with a +27 rating.
Before his time in Michigan, Mitchell spent much of his career with the Chicago Blackhawks organization. Earning much of his NHL experience with the Blackhawks, Mitchell recorded four goals and 16 points in 82 games with a -21 rating. After the 2022-23 season, Chicago traded Mitchell, along with Alec Regula, to the Boston Bruins for Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno.
Minor Transactions: 10/4/25
With the preseason wrapping up today, some teams will be recalling players they’ve already cut to give them one more game or they will be returning players recently brought up for that purpose. We’ll keep track of those moves here along with any other minor transactions.
- The Sabres announced that defensemen Vsevelod Komarov and Zach Metsa have been returned to AHL Rochester. Komarov is entering his second professional season while Metsa was one of the top-scoring blueliners in the minors last season, notching 46 points with the Amerks.
- The Devils have brought up forwards Jack Malone and Matyas Melovsky from AHL Utica, per a team release. Malone had 13 points in 57 games with the Comets in his first professional campaign while Melovsky is entering the first year of his entry-level deal after putting up 83 points in 57 games with QMJHL Baie-Comeau last season.
- The Blackhawks announced that they’ve recalled more than half a lineup from Rockford for their preseason finale. Returning from AHL Rockford are goalie Mitchell Weeks, defenseman Cavan Fitzgerald, Taige Harding, and Kevin Korchinski, plus forwards Gavin Hayes, Paul Ludwinski, Martin Misiak, Samuel Savoie, Brett Seney, Aidan Thompson, and Dominic Toninato.
- Veteran defenseman Andrej Sustr was let go from his NHL PTO last weekend. However, he has found a new team to try out for as Stefan Rosner of The Hockey News relays (Twitter link) that the 34-year-old has inked a PTO deal with AHL Bridgeport. Sustr split last season between Czechia and Finland and hasn’t played in North America since 2022-23 when he split time between Minnesota and Anaheim’s farm teams.
- The Avalanche announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled forwards Chase Bradley, Maros Jedlicka, Taylor Makar, Jayson Megna, Tristen Nielsen, and T.J. Tynan, along with defensemen Sean Behrens and Alex Gagne from AHL Colorado. They were all cut earlier in training camp and should be sent back to the Eagles in short order following their game tonight.
- The Rangers announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled goalie Callum Tung and forward Casey Terrance from AHL Hartford. Tung will be entering his first full professional campaign after signing with New York out of college late last season while Terrance was acquired this past offseason as part of the Chris Kreider trade.
- As expected, a day after recalling forward Shane Bowers, defenseman Braden Hache, and goalie Jakub Skarek from AHL San Jose, the Sharks announced (Twitter link) that all three players have been returned to the Barracuda.
- A day after recalling him, the Oilers announced (Twitter link) that they’ve sent goaltender Matt Tomkins back to AHL Bakersfield. Tomkins is in his first season with Edmonton and cleared waivers earlier this week.
- The Lightning have brought a few players back for their preseason finale. The team has recalled forwards Dylan Duke, Boris Katchouk, Scott Sabourin, and Wojciech Stachowiak, plus defensemen Charle-Edouard D’Astous and Roman Schmidt from AHL Syracuse, per a team release.
Lightning Sign Wojciech Stachowiak To Entry-Level Deal
The Lightning have signed left-winger Wojciech Stachowiak to an entry-level contract, the team announced today. It’s a one-year deal, but financial terms weren’t disclosed.
Stachowiak, 25, is the second undrafted player today to earn an NHL deal after a strong showing at the World Championship. Latvian winger Anri Ravinskis also landed one with the Canucks.
While Polish-born, Stachowiak is a German national as well and has played the vast majority of his career there, outside of a three-year run in North America, including two years with Michigan State from 2018 to 2020. After wrapping up his collegiate career with just four goals and one assist in 40 games, he returned home to Germany to make his professional debut with ERC Ingolstadt of the DEL, Germany’s top league.
The 6’1″, 187-lb winger has remained with Ingolstadt ever since, aside from a pair of brief loans to second-league club Ravensburg Towerstars a few years back. He has a 42-64–104 scoring line in 239 career DEL games, including 10 goals and 30 points in 52 games this season.
Stachowiak’s signing is more related to his performances on the international stage, though. He’s been one of Germany’s best players over the last three World Championships, recording a 7-14–21 scoring line in 25 games with a plus-five rating in three straight tourney appearances. He helped his country to a silver medal at the 2023 edition and was named a top-three player on the 2024 team, when he tied for the team lead with nine points in eight games.
With six years of professional experience in Europe, he arrives as a bit more of a polished product than the 22-year-old Ravinskis and stands a much better chance at making a surprise bid for an opening-night roster spot in Tampa in the fall. Tampa will hold Stachowiak’s signing rights through the 2026-27 campaign, so he’ll be a restricted free agent when his deal is up next year.