Anytime a team fails to achieve the ultimate goal of winning a Stanley Cup, a lot of focus is on the negative. Often, it’s to the point of blocking out some positive things that happened over the course of an 82-game season. For the Tampa Bay Lightning, one of those positives was the development of Mitchell Chaffee. On Thursday, they rewarded that development by signing the 26-year-old to a two-year, one-way contract.
Chaffee, who was set to be a Group 6 unrestricted free agent this summer, played in 30 games in his first sustained shot at the NHL. Playing mostly on the third and fourth lines after his call-up, he scored 4 goals and added 3 assists. In five playoff games he was held off of the scoreboard.
The Lightning took a chance signing him last July as Chaffee was still recovering from major knee surgery. The former UMass (Amherst) forward had the pedigree to be a productive scorer at the professional level, but injuries slowed his progress a bit. He started the season in Syracuse where 26 points in 36 games earned him a permanent call-up in early February (he had brief recalls in December and January). His play kept him in the line-up, something that other Crunch forwards haven’t been able to accomplish over the last couple of seasons.
This season he showed that, when healthy, he belongs in the NHL and the Lightning apparently agreed as they signed him to a one-way deal. With that contract in his pocket, he can be penciled in for a starting spot in next year’s line-up, likely on the third line. Adding Chaffee to the list of forwards under contract, a rough estimation of the lines as they stand right now looks something like this.
Brandon Hagel – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
(Future Consideration) – Anthony Cirelli – Conor Sheary
Mikey Eyssimont – Nick Paul – Mitchell Chaffee
(Future Consideration) – Luke Glendening – Tanner Jeannot
The signing checks off one of the boxes on Julien BriseBois’ summer to-do list, but he’s still got a lot of work to do. If the cap does go to the expected $87,700,00 then the Bolts have about $11,785,000 left to fill 5-6 more spots. The big name is Steven Stamkos, of course, but there are still some other decisions to be made.
There are still two more spots in the starting line-up to be filled as well as a spot on defense (but at least the goalies are good to go!). Along with Stamkos, the pending unrestricted free agents are Anthony Duclair, Tyler Motte, Austin Watson, Calvin de Haan, Matt Dumba, and Haydn Fleury.
