How rookie Mitchell Chaffee pushed his way into the Lightning lineup
TAMPA — The Lightning took a chance on signing forward Mitchell Chaffee to a one-year, two-way contract during the beginning of free agency last summer.
Chaffee had played just 10 games the previous season for Minnesota’s AHL team before a serious knee injury sidelined him. When he reported to Lightning training camp in September, he still wasn’t 100%, but the team’s trust that the 26-year-old would return to form has paid off.
The Lightning have seen their share of new faces in the lineup this season. Injuries have forced them to dip into their depth and summon players from AHL Syracuse. Chaffee has become one of the few to stick, bringing a brand of play that frankly this team needs as it tries to push its way into the playoffs.
“You look at all those little nuances that players have, and he’s got them,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “And those are the types of things we love around here, and we’ve had success around here with players that can play that way. And he’s done a great job with the minutes he’s been given.”
Chaffee was one of the few bright spots in the Lightning’s 4-2 home loss to the Senators on Monday night. He provided a boost with his second NHL goal, scoring Tampa Bay’s first of the game. After mostly playing fourth-line minutes, Chaffee was the beneficiary of Cooper’s line shuffling, earning a career-high 14:37 of ice time. He also dished out a career-high five hits and found himself skating on a third line with Nick Paul and Mikey Eyssimont, a spot he held in Tuesday’s practice.
“The more games I’ve played, I feel like the more trust I’ve gotten from the coaching staff,” Chaffee said Tuesday. “And obviously we’ve done a lot of video (work) and I know what is expected of me.”
It’s a far cry from where Chaffee’s career was 15 months ago.
A tough, untimely break
Chaffee went into last season feeling good about his future. Going into a contract year, he was coming off his best pro season, scoring 23 goals in 49 games with the Wild’s AHL club in Iowa. He received his first taste of the NHL, playing two games with Minnesota. His future was bright.
But in mid-November, the Iowa Wild were playing a game in Milwaukee when Chaffee tried to push his way into the right dot for the puck on an offensive zone faceoff. He took a shoulder from his left side and fell to the ice, his right knee turning awkwardly.
Chaffee’s season ended there with a torn right ACL. He had surgery to repair the ligament two weeks later and didn’t skate again for about six months, his days until then consumed with two-a-day rehab sessions.
“When you want something so bad, you kind of obsess over it and you kind of obsess over getting back and getting back healthy,” he said. “I think that was a big goal of mine. I knew that I was going to be back. It was just a matter of time and where. That was my goal.”
The Lightning signed Chaffee on July 1, the first day of free agency, to a two-way deal. He spent all summer getting back into skating shape, but still wasn’t entirely medically cleared at the opening of camp. He started the season in Syracuse.
“There was something there,” Cooper said of the impression Chaffee made in training camp. “He just needed to get back into NHL speed.”
Grabbing the opportunity
Chaffee scored nine goals and had 19 points in his first 21 games with the Crunch, including six multi-point games, when he received his first Lightning call-up. He played less than seven minutes in his Tampa Bay debut on Dec. 12 in Vancouver, then was back in the Syracuse lineup four nights later.
But when forward Tanner Jeannot went down with an injury in late January, the Lightning needed a player who could play a bottom-six role, someone who could add physicality, win puck battles and be a presence in front of the net. They summoned Chaffee for his second stint.
Chaffee had a two-point game, which included his first NHL goal, in his first game back on Jan. 25 against Arizona. He’s played in every game since he was recalled.
Monday’s goal was a result of being rewarded by putting himself in the right place at the right time, as the puck hit off the end board and off an Ottawa defenseman’s stick to Chaffee in front. Cooper will be the first to say he’s earning those breaks, and his increased role.
“You look for the kid’s compete and he had it,” Cooper said. “The kid’s got some courage. He’s not afraid to go to those areas. You’ll always find him net front. He’s always going to those corners shoulder first. He’s not backing up going stick first. He gets in there. ... He wins puck battles. And if he doesn’t, the guy that beats him has gone through one heck of a war.”
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