College Team: Clarkson University
Notable Teammates: Eric Cole (Carolina Hurricanes)
Best College Season: 29 points in 34 games
NHL Draft: 1996, 199th overall, 8th round
Drafted By: New Jersey Devils
Traded: 2001 with future considerations to Minnesota for Sean O-Donnell
Free Agent: 2006 signs a 4 year deal with Vancouver
Best NHL Season: 14 points in 69 games
It’s hard to believe that one of the players that caused Todd Bertuzzi so much trouble when the Wild and Canucks played is now in a Canuck uniform.
However, the rumour has been going around for a few years that Mitchell wanted to come play for the team he watched growing up. A native of Port McNeil, Mitchell is looking to achieve a goal, that of bringing a cup to his hometown team.
Mitchell was brought here for one reason, and that’s to stop goals. The team essentially traded up the injury prone free wheeling Ed Jovanovski for the injury prone defensive stalwart Willie Mitchell.
But I’m not convinced it was that needed after also landing the best young goalie in the league.
More convincing a reason is that Mitchell is another player that learned a strong work ethic while in the Devils & Wild systems. A work ethic that was again missing last season and Nonis is clearly trying to find the right guys to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
Here’s hoping Luc Bourdon can come in and replace some of Jovanovski’s skill because it’s not coming from Mitchell. But you still need to like what you see.
The Chief Canuck