Installment No. 10 of our 25 Montreal Canadiens in 25 days series takes a closer look at depth forward Torrey Mitchell.
Nearly 500 games into his NHL career, Mitchell has gotten by with speed, reliability in the face-off circle and steadiness as a penalty killer.
There aren’t many players who last as long as Mitchell has without scoring consistently or fighting regularly. His willingness to accept a periphery role and act as a good teammate has made him a mainstay in the NHL since 2007.
But Mitchell hasn’t always been just a role player.
A native of Greenfield Park on the south shore of Montreal, Mitchell starred for his high school hockey team before moving out to Hotchkiss prep school in Connecticut. In two seasons with Hotchkiss, Mitchell led the team in scoring (111 points in 51 games), was named a Founders League all-star and earned All-New England honours. He was named team captain in his senior year and finished the season as their MVP before earning a full scholarship to play for the University of Vermont.
Before his first season with the Catamounts, Mitchell was selected in the fourth round (126th overall) of the 2004 NHL Draft by the San Jose Sharks.
Mitchell went on to post 105 points in 115 games with UVM. He co-captained the team in his junior year before turning pro and appearing in the final 11 games of Worcester’s season in the AHL.
The following season (2007-08), Mitchell secured a position with San Jose. He scored 10 goals and 10 assists and played in all 82 games that year.
He spent four more seasons with the Sharks before signing as a free agent with the Minnesota Wild. And in his second season with Minnesota, Mitchell was traded to the Buffalo Sabres.
After the Sabres missed the playoffs in 2014, Mitchell returned home to Montreal and frequently appeared at the Bell Centre to watch the Canadiens on their run to the Eastern Conference final. Who’d have thought he’d be suiting up for them in 2015?
Who: Torrey Mitchell | No. 17 | Fourth line centre (shoots right) | 5-foot-11 | 189 pounds | Age: 30 |
Acquired: Trade (2015) for forward Jack Nevins and a 2016 seventh-round pick
Contract status: Three years, $1.2M AAV (expires 2018)
2014-15 Stats: 65 GP | 6 G | 8 A | 14 P | 14:11 TOI | 39.4 CF%
Career stats: 457 GP | 42 G | 63 A | 105 P | 12:15 TOI | 48.7 CF%
The book on 2014-15:
The 2014-15 season was one of the toughest of Mitchell’s career.
He had a respectable six goals and seven assists in 51 games with the Sabres, but being a defensive specialist on a defensively inept team can’t be too much fun. That certainly contributed to Mitchell posting the worst corsi for percentage at even strength of his career.
The trade to Montreal was a godsend for Mitchell, but adjusting to their style of play proved challenging. He was used for less than 11 minutes in seven of the 14 regular season games he played with the Canadiens, recording just one assist over that time. He also suffered an upper-body injury that kept him out of four games in March.
With a chance to reset, Mitchell started the Stanley Cup playoffs on the right foot. He scored his first goal as a Canadien in Game 1 of their series with Ottawa.
It turned out to be Mitchell’s only goal, but he added four assists and boasted a plus-4 rating and 50.7 corsi for percentage at even strength in 12 playoff games.
Off-season updates:
Mitchell left Montreal in May to spend the summer in Vermont, where he trained and spent most of his time golfing.
On June 15, he signed a three-year deal to remain with the Canadiens, forgoing the opportunity to become an unrestricted free agent in July.
“The term was important,” Mitchell said. “I’m not 22 years old; I’m 30 and I wanted to feel like the team was going to commit to me.”
Mitchell’s deal does not include any trade protection.
2015-16 outlook:
Mitchell is expected to have a steady presence in Montreal’s lineup since he’s the only right-handed centre on the team. If he can score 10 goals or more, continue to be a reliable penalty killer and face-off man, and help the team drive possession from the fourth line, he’ll prove to be a valuable piece of the puzzle.
