Over the past month, three Syracuse Crunch players have opted to depart the Tampa Bay Lightning organization and signed with a team in Europe for the 2026-27 season.
Most notably, defenseman Ian Mitchell was signed by SC Bern of the Swiss National League in late April. The Lightning acquired Mitchell from the Detroit Red Wings back in March. In a trade with their former general manager Steve Yzerman, the Lightning sent Michael Milne and Wojciech Stachowiak to Detroit in return for Mitchell.
Acquiring Mitchell was likely intended to add some depth to the Lightning in case of a long playoff run, however he ended up spending his entire stint with the Lightning organization with their American Hockey League affiliate in Syracuse. In 15 regular season games with the Crunch, Mitchell contributed seven assists. He added one more assist in the AHL playoffs.
More recently, defenseman Chris Harpur signed with Lukko in the Finnish Liiga. According to the team's sporting director Kalle Sahlstedt, Lukko attempted to sign Harpur last summer as well, but he opted to remain in North America and split his time between Syracuse and the Lightning's ECHL affiliate, the Orlando Solar Bears. At 29 years of age, Harpur decided it's time to move abroad for the first time in his career.
A couple of days later, another player who was stuck bouncing between Syracuse and Orlando, Spencer Kersten signed with the Straubing Tigers of the German DEL. “I am very grateful for the opportunity to join the Tigers and to play in front of such a great crowd," Kersten said in a press release. "I look forward to building on the successes of this organization.”
The Lightning will have a few holes to fill in their farm system for the 2026-27 season, however with a few prospects seemingly ready to either turn professional or move to North America, it shouldn't be an issue to fill them internally.