Tampa Bay Lightning re-sign Mitchell Chaffee to two-year contract 

Chaffee was undrafted, signing with the Minnesota Wild as a free agent in 2020.

The 26-year-old former UMass Minutemen winger made his NHL debut with the Wild on April 19, 2022. After playing in two games for Minnesota that season, Chaffee signed with a one-year, two-way contract with the Lightning on July 1, 2023.

Later that year, he made his Tampa Bay debut on Dec. 12 and scored his first career goal in his second game against the Arizona Coyotes on Jan. 25, 2024. 

Chaffee was a great story down the stretch for the Bolts. After rehabbing an ACL injury, the Grand Rapids native earned a spot in the top nine. He finished the 2023-24 season with seven points (four goals, three assists) in 30 games for Tampa Bay and ranked third among forwards with 15.59 hits per 60 minutes. 

“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 told the Tampa Bay Times in February. “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.”

Chaffee also played in all five Stanley Cup Playoff games, as the Lightning were eliminated in the first round by the Florida Panthers. 

Chaffee played in 123 career AHL games between the Iowa Wild and Syracuse Crunch, racking up 42 goals, 89 points and a plus-33 rating. He ranked third on the Crunch with 12 goals and 26 points in 36 games last season before being recalled by the Lightning. He finished his collegiate career with 95 points in 108 games for UMass.