Sheffield Steelers coach Aaron Fox forced to move quickly to bring in injury cover

The arrival of power forward Mason Mitchell to South Yorkshire is temporarily on hold after he sustained a lower body injury while training back home in North America.

It means he will not join his new team-mates in Sheffield for at least six more weeks while he carries out his rehab at home.

In the meantime, head coach Fox has wasted no time in bringing in cover, adding Czech-born forward Tomáš Pitule on an initial two-month deal with the Steelers having an option to extend the deal for the remainder of the season if they like what they see and have the room on their roster.

Pitule has spent the majority of his career playing in his homeland, splitting his time last season between Rytíři Kladno in the Czechia Extraliga and on loan in second-tier outfit VHK Vsetín.

Overall, he scored five goals and eight assists in a total of 45 games, most of his offensive contribution coming at Vsetin.

“Tomas is a big two-way forward who skates extremely well and plays a very responsible game,” said Fox. “He averaged a point per game in Czech 2 in 2020-21, so he has proved he can produce offensively as well.

“He played half the year in Czech Extraliga last year in a checking line role so will be a guy we can count on in those situations too.

“I believe he’s a natural centre who can play wing as well. Starting with a full roster is very important to us so we will be bringing him in on a two-month deal with a team option to stay the whole year. He is very excited to be here competing for a full year contract.”

Fox admitted the news that Mitchell would not be available for the start of the 2022-23 campaign was far from ideal, but was hopeful he would be in Sheffield before the end of October.

"Mason will start year on IR (injury reserve) and rehab at home until he gets closer to be able to train with the team,” he added.