Friday Feature: Chaffee Leaving Nothing To Chance With Crunch

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What a difference a year makes.

And for Mitchell Chaffee, that old saying couldn't ring more true after a devastating injury last November derailed his hockey career - sending the forward into free agency this past summer with a lot to prove.

Coming into last season riding the momentum and confidence from putting together 39 points - including 23 goals - in 49 AHL games in addition to making his NHL debut with the Minnesota Wild the year prior, the sky was the limit for Chaffee entering the 2022-23 season.

"You know, last year, my goal was to hopefully play a lot of NHL games," Chaffee recalled to InsideAHLHockey.com after last Saturday night's Syracuse Crunch win in Wilkes-Barre. "Unfortunately, because of my injury, I wasn't able to do that."

Beginning last season back in the AHL with Minnesota's farmhand Iowa Wild, Chaffee was looking to build off of his two-game NHL stint and eager to push his way back into the NHL.

After going pointless in four games to begin 2022-23 despite recording 14 shots on goal in those contests, Chaffee began to catch fire again - rattling off goals in four straight games before tearing his ACL in a game on November 11, 2022 against the Milwaukee Admirals.

The injury put an end to his season just 10 games in, and the work off the ice immediately began in hopes of getting back to full strength and getting an opportunity in free agency to continue his climb back up the pro hockey ladder and get back to the NHL.

"It's definitely been a long recovery," Chaffee explained of his rehab process, adding, "I spent the whole season pretty much bouncing between Minnesota, Michigan and Iowa just rehabbing - countless hours and two times a day going to rehab and stuff [like that]."

The seemingly endless doctor visits and physical therapy sessions got Chaffee back onto the ice skating in the spring, and luckily enough he was able to get a few skates in with the Minnesota Wild's playoff extras, commonly referred to as the Black Aces, before the Wild were eliminated in Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Even after Minnesota's season had ended, and Chaffee's future with the organization as a pending unrestricted free agent much in question, the organization still lent its resources his way - as Chaffee was also able to get extra work in with Wild's power skating coach, Andy Ness, before heading home and skating all summer in Detroit.

"[The Minnesota Wild] organization helped me out so much. They gave me everything that I needed to to be back, whether I was going to be in the organization or not. They truly were behind me," an appreciative Chaffee said of the Wild organization's going above and beyond for him.

When it came time to free agency, Chaffee said he had a few options before ultimately deciding that Tampa Bay's interest and the opportunity they presented is why chose to sign the one-year deal with the Lightning on July 1.

"Every time you're going into free agency, you're not sure what to expect, especially with, like you said, only playing 10 games last year," Chaffee said. "You have to find an organization that's going to believe in you and give you a good opportunity, and I felt like I found that in this organization. I mean, I've had nothing but support from the staff, the coaches and the players here. And it's been great."

Chaffee has made an instant impact with his new team in Syracuse this fall, tallying seven points in his first seven games with the team in October, but Syracuse Crunch head coach Joel Bouchard was quick to point out the important stuff first.

"First and foremost, we like the person. He's a great guy. He's a competitor. He's a team guy," Bouchard said of his first impressions of Chaffee from training camp in Tampa Bay through the first five weeks of the season. "He's got that leadership in him so before we even we talk about his quality as a hockey player, it's his quality as a person. For us, he fits into what this organization wants in a player."

After cooling off a bit offensively to begin November, Chaffee is still a point-per-game player through 11 games played (three goals, eight assists) on the year with four points (two goals, two assists) coming in his last two games.

He's been a key cog in Syracuse's offensive arsenal and part of the reason why the team is off to a 7-3-2 start to the season. So far, so good for Chaffee with the Crunch.

"It was great that Tampa seemed very interested in me, and I felt like it was going to be a great fit," Chaffee said of his current opportunity in the Lightning organization. "I'm excited for what the future holds, and I'm just trying to do what I can here and better myself."

An undrafted forward who put up stellar numbers in the NCAA ranks with UMass, Chaffee is no stranger to having to make the most of the opportunities that he has earned along the way. You'll be hard-pressed to find a player more determined to get back to the NHL to prove last season's unfortunate injury was just a minor bump in the road.

"You know, last year, my goal was to hopefully play a lot of NHL games, and unfortunately because of my injury I wasn't able to do that. So I'm hoping this year that I can kind of get back to where I was and even just improve on that and hopefully get some NHL games this year."

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