When the Montreal Canadiens acquired Torrey Mitchell from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for a 2016 seventh-round pick and Jack Nivens in 2015, few expected him to stick around with the team. A career fourth-liner, the Greenfield Park, QC native was never one to provide offense on a regular basis and nobody would have ever guessed that the Sabres’ asking price would turn out to be a bargain.
During the 2015 playoffs, Mitchell posted 5 points in 12 games. General manager Marc Bergevin was impressed and subsequently offered him a three-year contract, citing his versatility and speed as key factors in that decision.
Last year, Mitchell had his best professional output. He managed to score 11 goals and 19 points despite having missed 11 games due to injuries. Five of those goals came during a span of the first month and a half of the regular season, when all four lines were clicking and offensive contributions came from practically everywhere in the lineup.
Playing regularly alongside Brian Flynn and Devante Smith-Pelly/Paul Byron, Mitchell was on pace for a 20-goal season. He could’ve racked up more assists had DSP finished the numerous scoring chances set up by his line mates early on. On the other hand, watching Byron feed Mitchell on a shorthanded goal was a thing of beauty:
Once Mitchell came back from his injury, he looked as discouraged as the rest of his teammates did and was quiet for most of the remainder of the 2015-2016 campaign. It came as a surprise that he would finish the year as a second-line winger with Lars Eller and Tomas Plekanec after playing with nearly every imaginable combination in the bottom-six. Clearly, that was not a role suited to him, and I expect him to center the fourth line out of the upcoming training camp. He’ll have to do better defensively as that’s his primary role on this roster. However, his -7 differential and 51 penalty minutes were worst amongst all forwards.
Fortunately, the 31-year-old’s work ethic has never come into question and while he might not necessarily be expected to post similar numbers to last season’s, he’ll certainly play better in his own zone and reliably take faceoffs therein.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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