Mitchell Stephens has completed some major rites of prospecthood, and now comes the hard part.
Being a two-way talent on a U.S.-based team, the Saginaw Spirit, means Stephens is one of the OHL’s most underrated stars. The Tampa Bay Lightning prospect’s progress this season might illustrate the purpose of playing a full four seasons in the OHL. While he has an entry-level deal with the Lightning and has already competed in a world junior championship, an extended training camp gave Stephens an appreciation of how far he is from breaking the NHL threshold.
“The gap is huge—the speed is so much quicker, the guys are so much better,” Stephens says. “You do not have much time and space on the puck. For me it’s a matter of taking that into consideration, and work that into my game as much as I can, and try to be a stronger faster player will help me.”
“For me to go in and just be a sponge and pick up on what those guys do to be successful pros, just to be able to play with that pace, that’s something to bring back to Saginaw.”
Stephens is in a unique position as a captain whose coach, Spencer Carbery, is an ECHL vet who is a newcomer to the OHL. That creates an extra responsibility with helping build trust with a Spirit team that has individual talent, but hasn’t had collective playoff success.
“It’s just about showing leadership,” says Stephens. “I’ve had numerous chats with Spencer. He’s coached in pro and knows what it takes. He’s teaching us the pro mentality. It’s huge for guys who want to move forward, the overagers and the older guys who want to sign contracts or move on to CIS [Canadian Interuniversity Sport].”
Stephens’ speed and facility with supporting teammates helped him crack Team Canada in 2016. That, and playing with a certain urgency, was on full display when he scored the game-winner last Saturday when Saginaw edged the Ottawa 67’s 2-1 for their first win.
“You could see shoulders starting to drop and stuff like that. It was just one of those games where everyone needed to do a little more.”
Stephens had a thrill during his NHL stint. During a Lightning game against the Nashville Predators, he found himself at the faceoff dot with long-time NHLer and fellow Peterborough native Mike Fisher.
“I didn’t say anything to him [Fisher],” Stephens says. “My trainer back home, he grew up with Mike, and I did let him know that I was playing. It was one of the coolest experiences that I’ve had as a player, taking a faceoff against someone who I idolized growing up.”
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That Stings, eh?
Quality is better than quantity, so no doubt Sarnia Sting fans are cherishing the memory of all 26 games that defenceman Jakob Chychrun, centre Travis Konecny and left-winger Pavel Zacha played together last spring.
The Sting have started 5-1-1-0 in the OHL’s West Division, but all three stars are sticking in the NHL. The Arizona Coyotes’ roster tweaks suggest they are clearing room for the 18-year-old Chychrun on the back end. Philadelphia Flyers GM Ron Hextall has also said the plan is to keep Konecny and fellow 19-year-old first-rounder Ivan Provorov, of the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings, for the entire season.
Zacha, also 19, seems safety inside the 13-forward cut line with the New Jersey Devils.
The parallels with the ascents of Chychrun and Konecny are stark. Each went No. 1-overall in the OHL priority selection and faced expectations that were almost impossibly high. That along with a myriad of injuries, meant a few NHL teams moved them down their boards, leaving draftniks screaming at their screens during the 2015 and ’16 drafts. Both Konecny (24th in 2015) and Chychrun (16th in June) have shown that talent appraisers got it right the first time.
The Erie Otters, London Knights and Windsor Spitfires have the same champagne problem since Dylan Strome (Arizona), Matthew Tkachuk (Calgary) and Mikhail Sergachev (Montreal) are making good on bids to play their first NHL games. Each Western Conference heavyweight has been very good recently, or projects to be this season, but doesn’t know if it will regain a major linchpin. Losing a talented trio simultaneously might make Sarnia a sentimental favorite in the Western Conference.
The first 2017 NHL Draft rankings are published. Check them out here.
Scoring champ returns to Regina
While the Wheat Kings lost a star, their WHL East Division rival Regina Pats have regained one.
Reigning scoring champ Adam Brooks (120 points in 2015-16) is heading back to Regina for his overage season after a full pre-season with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Brooks’s status as a re-entry pick affirms that he is a late bloomer, so going back for a fifth season of junior is hardly an inauspicious sign. With the Leafs’ working belief that there’s no such thing as too many young skilled players in the pipeline, someone was bound to be caught in a numbers game.
The Pats, paced in the attack by the likes of 18-year-old Sam Steel and 17-year-old Jake Leschyshyn, are averaging 4.67 goals during a 4-0-2-0 start. Meantime, the Queen City kids might not have to see Provorov again.
Head butt only draws one-game ban
Kitchener Rangers right wing Jake Henderson, and this is not a good thing, has the early line on most bizarre ejection of the season. The 19-year-old received a match penalty and a one-game suspension after head-butting Barrie Colts youngster Kirill Nizhnikov last Saturday. Henderson was bareheaded and Nizhnikov was helmeted. Really.
The one-game sentence seemed curious. Henderson has had two suspensions for checking to the head—a 10-game ban in 2014-15 and a two-game shelving in the 2016 playoffs. Head-butting is a different category, so the St. Louis native can go right back on the ice since the Rangers played on Thanksgiving Day.
Canadian NHL team prospect of the week
Nikita Korostelev, RW, Sarnia Sting (OHL)
Quick Nik, whom the Toronto Maple Leafs took a flier on at No. 185 overall in 2015, is carrying the aforementioned Sting offensively. Korostelev, 19, had successive two-goal games during Sarnia’s 2-0 week, tallying a total of nine shots on goal.
Since returning from the Leafs’ camp, Korostelev has 11 points (8G-3A) across five games for Sarnia.
New name to know
Anderson MacDonald, LW, Sherbrooke Phoenix (QMJHL)
It is early yet, but the 16-year-old MacDonald is living up to his billing as a manchild put on the planet to score goals. Try eight (on 24 shots) through his first seven games for the Phoenix.
The Quispasmis, N.B., native, at 6-foot-2 and 203 lb., has the space-creating size to allow him to use his deft hands in the dirty areas. MacDonald was the No.-10 overall choice in June by Sherbrooke after helping his Saint John Vito’s reach the final of the Canadian midget championship last spring.
The one downer of MacDonald’s start is the Phoenix have only scored 20 times. No one else has more than two goals.