Los Angeles Kings sign Willie Mitchell
The Los Angeles Kings have announced that they have signed defenseman Willie Mitchell to a two-year contract worth $3.5 million per year. Mitchell was an unrestricted free agent and spent last season with the Vancouver Canucks.
Mitchell was drafted in the eighth round, 199th overall by the New Jersey Devils in the 1996 National Hockey League entry draft. He did not join the Devils until the 1999-2000 season, spending most of the season with their American Hockey League affiliate the Albany River Rats. Mitchell then spent the majority of the following season with New Jersey before joining the Minnesota Wild at the end of the year.
The veteran spent the next four seasons with the Wild establishing himself as a hard-nosed, stay-at-home defender. He left the Wild at the 2005-06 trade deadline, enjoying a brief stint with the Dallas Stars. In 2006-07 the British Columbia native joined the Canucks and played four seasons with the club. Vancouver elected to allow Mitchell to leave as a free agent at the end of the 2009-10 campaign.
Mitchell brings a sense of responsibility and reliability to the Kings back-end. The 33-year-old should fit in well on the club’s second or third defence pairing. Los Angeles has two of the best young offensive defenseman in the League in Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson, Mitchell will give the Kings coaching staff a more dependable and consistent option.
Mitchell is not a flashy player and cannot be expected to rack up points over the 2010-11 season, nevertheless he is a solid defender that has been a plus-player for 10 of his 11 seasons in the NHL.
Moreover, adding a veteran of Mitchell’s pedigree makes the Kings an even greater threat in the Western Conference next season. Although, the club looks to have missed out on the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes, their moves to acquire 20-goal scorer Alexei Ponikarovsky, and now the rock-solid Mitchell, have certainly made the young team even better.
Last season with Vancouver Mitchell recorded four goals and eight assists for 12 points while going plus-13 in 48 games.
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