By: Andrew Bluestein | Follow me on Twitter @adbblue
The Boston Bruins made their first big splash of the 2023 offseason Monday afternoon in a deal that sent wingers Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno to the Chicago Blackhawks in return for the rights of young defenseman Alec Regula and Ian Mitchell. The Move helped the Bruins clear $6 million off their books, leaving them with just over $12 million in cap space.
Although the trade was made more so for clearing salary cap space, acquiring two young defensemen from Chicago may have more nuance than you think, especially in the case of Ian Mitchell. Let’s dive into Mitchell as a player and his ties with Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery.
Ian Mitchell was originally a second-round pick, 57th overall, by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2017 NHL draft. The St. Albert Alberta native played his junior hockey for the Spruce Grove Saints of the AJHL, where his solid play earned him a spot on the 2016-17 Canada Word Junior Championships team. He played five games in the tournament and recorded two assists.
The right-shot defenseman would then take his talent to the University of Denver starting in 2017, where the connection to Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery comes into play. Montgomery served as the University of Denver’s head coach from 2013 to 2018, so Mitchell played for Montgomery during his Freshman year, where he was a key contributor.
He scored two goals and had 28 assists for 30 points in 41 games. He was also solid defensively, finishing the season as a +17. Montgomery would depart Denver after taking the Dallas Stars head coaching job for the 2018-19 season. Still, Mitchell had earned the coaching staff’s and his teammates’ respect, earning an alternate captain role his sophomore season and eventually the captaincy his junior season. He recorded 89 points in three seasons playing 106 games for the Pioneers before signing an NHL entry-level contract.
Mitchell made his NHL debut for Chicago on January 14, 2021, against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He would play 39 games and record just seven points that season for the Blackhawks before being sent down to their AHL affiliate Rockford. The offensive-minded defenseman has struggled to find his game at the NHL level, as he’s only recorded 16 points in 82 games over three seasons. That resulted in him being up and down from the minors, and his most impressive pro season thus far was during the 2021-22 season with Rockford, where he tallied 35 points in 57 games.
Perhaps a change of scenery will help develop the 5’11 defenseman. Being in Chicago, the past three seasons were not the best situation for a young offensive-minded defenseman to grow as the organization is going through an extensive rebuild and has also gone through some turmoil on top of that.
If the Bruins decide to keep the 24-year-old, he would likely spend time in Providence to work on his game and improve his defensive-mindedness, which would give him more clarity on his role with the organization and more structure to what he previously had with Chicago. Although he will be more of a reclamation project right now, he still has the potential to be an effective player in the NHL.
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