Mitchell Balmas on why there is 'nothing better' than playing for Sheffield Steelers

Things couldn’t have gone much better for the 27-year-old Canadian in his first season outside of North America, helping the Steelers record a memorable treble, while finishing as the league’s top points scorer across all three competitions by racking up 32 goals and 58 assists in 70 appearances.

Fast forward 12 months and although Balmas was again the Steelers’ most productive player - and joint third overall in all formats - he and his team-mates had nothing to show for their efforts, losing at the semi-final stage of both the Challenge Cup and play-offs, while being edged out on the final day of the regular season for the title by Belfast Giants.

Such a frustrating conclusion to the 2025-26 campaign means there is no lack of motivation for Balmas and his fellow returnees.

As was the case last summer, the left-handed forward had no shortage of options when it came to plying his trade come September.

But, when it came down to it, his two years in Sheffield meant he found it impossible to find anything that could improve on that experience.

“I’ve loved it in Sheffield ever since I first set foot there two years ago,” said Balmas, back home for the summer in Sydney, Nova Scotia.

“There were definitely some options that came up and you have to at least consider the pros and cons of every different spot.

“But when I sat down with the people that I really trust, Sheffield was always still top of my list and it was really hard to say no to.

“Nothing else was really comparable to coming back to play in Sheffield - I love playing there.”

And while ultimately the 2024-25 campaign was to end frustratingly, Balmas returns aiming to add to the Steelers’ trophy cabinet.

“I guess you could say it was a little frustrating given how close we were able to take it down to the wire in the league,” he added.

“And if we could have played the whole season like we did that last month and a half it would probably have been a different story.

“The reality is that when you are at the top, everybody wants to knock you down. Next year, hopefully it’s our turn to be able to knock some of these other teams down.”

Steelers’ head coach Aaron Fox was aware of the interest in Balmas - including a number of top leagues in Europe - but was relieved when he found out his top forward would be returning.

“I know Balms had a couple of decent offers in some pretty good leagues that he turned down to stay here,” said Fox.

“For me, Balms has been the best forward in the league, two years running. I know last year numbers wise he didn’t quite have the same year as the one before, but he is such a prolific offensive player. When the game gets harder, he gets better.”