Stephens was born on February 5, 1997, in Peterborough, Ontario[1] to parents Lee and Heather.[2] Growing up in Peterborough, Stephens played in the Peterborough Minor Hockey Council's AAA Petes program before joining the Toronto Marlboros of the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL).[3] While playing with the Minor Midget AAA Toronto Marlboros, Stephens helped lead the team to a Kraft Cup title and Scotiabank GTHL Playoffs championship during the 2012–13 season. He reached this achievement by recording 44 goals and 84 points in 58 regular-season games.[4] As a result of his play, Stephens was drafted eighth overall by the Saginaw Spirit in the 2013 Ontario Hockey League (OHL) Priority Selection draft.[5]
In his final season with Saginaw in 2015–16, Stephens made 43 appearances, tallying 22 goals and 19 assists, while being named team MVP.[8] He missed a significant number of games due to a broken foot that season.[9] Stephens returned to the OHL for the 2016–17 season. Stephens was named captain of the Spirit with alternates Kris Bennett, C.J. Garcia, and Keaton Middleton.[10] He remained captain of the team until January 2017 when he was traded to the London Knights in exchange for various draft picks. At the time of the trade, Stephens scored 62 goals to rank 14th all-time in franchise history.[11] However, Stephens played only 29 regular season games with the Knights and 14 playoff games before returning to the Crunch.[1]
Professional career
Tampa Bay Lightning
Stephens was selected by the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League (NHL) in the second round (33rd overall) of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. On April 4, 2016, Stephens penned a three-year entry-level contract with the Lightning[12] and was sent to their American Hockey League (AHL) team, the Syracuse Crunch, on an amateur try-out contract. He subsequently made his professional debut with the Crunch on April 8, 2016.[13] He finished the season with the Crunch, recording one goal in five games.[1] In his first full season in the AHL with the Crunch, Stephens was selected to appear in the 2018 AHL All-Star Classic.[14]
On December 9, 2019, Stephens made his NHL debut in a 5–1 Lightning loss to the visiting New York Islanders at Amalie Arena.[15][16] On December 28, 2019, Stephens recorded his first career NHL goal in 5–4 Lightning win over the Montreal Canadiens.[17] On August 3, 2020, Stephens skated in his first career NHL playoff game, recording his first career NHL playoff goal and point.[18] As a result, he signed a two-year contract extension to remain with the Lightning on October 7, 2020.[19] Stephens saw limited playing time during the 2020–21 season due to injury, appearing in just seven games with the Lightning and four additional games with the Crunch.[20] He won his second Stanley Cup with the Lightning at the end of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs.[21]
Detroit Red Wings
On July 30, 2021, Stephens was traded to the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for a sixth-round pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.[20] While attending the Red Wings training camp, Stephens earned praise from coach Jeff Blashill for his skating ability and energy while projecting he would play on their fourth line.[22] During the 2021–22 season, he skated in 27 games with the Red Wings, scoring six points.[23] His season was interrupted by a lower-body injury that kept him out from November 13, 2021 to April 8, 2022.[24]
Montreal Canadiens
On July 13, 2022, Stephens signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Montreal Canadiens.[23] He spent the entire 2022–23 season with Montreal's AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, scoring 20 goals and 41 points in 68 games. He re-signed with Montreal on July 10, 2023 to a one-year, two-way contract.[25] Stephens participated in the Canadiens' 2023 training camp, but was placed on waivers and after going unclaimed, was assigned to Laval to start the 2023–24 season.[26] He was recalled by Montreal on December 1, 2023.[27] He made his Canadiens debut in a 5–4 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings on December 2 playing on the fourth line with Jesse Ylönen and Joel Armia.[28] He scored his first goal for the Canadiens in a 5–2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on December 23.[29]
