On Thursday, the Thunderbolts and Head Coach/Director of Hockey Operations Jeff Bes announced a pair of transactions, led by the signing of defenseman Mackenze Stewart.
Stewart, a native of Calgary, Alberta, is a former NHL draft pick of the Vancouver Canucks, who selected him 186th overall in the 2014 NHL Draft from the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL. In the WHL with the Raiders along with the Tri-City Americans between 2012-2016, Stewart played 163 games and scored 15 goals along with 16 assists for 31 points, along with 230 penalty minutes. Stewart played three seasons within the Canucks organization with the AHL’s Utica Comets along with the ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings and Alaska Aces between 2015-2018, before playing one season in the Detroit Red Wings farm system with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins and ECHL’s Toledo Walleye in 2018-19, before concluding the season with the Innisfail Eagles of the ACHW and playing briefly with the Eagles in 2019-20. In total professionally, Stewart played 10 games in the AHL, along with 134 ECHL games, scoring 10 goals along with 16 assists for 26 points. Since 2019, Stewart has remained active in hockey, working in prospect development for the Raiders and attending training camp with the ECHL’s Allen Americans prior to the start of this season.
In additional transaction news, defenseman Bronson Adams has been placed on 14-Day Injured Reserve.