With the 2025 NHL Draft around the corner, Michael Misa is one of the names that everyone’s watching. But long before the headlines, it was a quiet moment on the ice that gave his parents a hint of what was to come.
Michael Misa’s Father Saw a Glimpse of His Early Talent
Frank Misa, Michael’s father, remembers it like it happened yesterday. “Michael had always played against Luke (Misa, Michael’s brother and a 2024 fifth-round draft pick of the Calgary Flames) and all the kids on the street which were older,” he said in a video from the NHL’s YouTube channel. “So he was always used to being challenged physically.”
Then came the moment. During a game with kids much older, Michael got a breakaway. He took off toward the goal, then slowed down and looked behind him.
“I’ll never forget the look on his face when he was kind of skating down the ice and he went out for a breakaway and he almost stopped kind of mid ice to look behind like thinking like ‘Where is everybody’ like ‘I’m not used to this’,” Frank said with a smile.
“It was kind of our first inkling that you know he was able to play with kids a couple years up and still belong.”
Michael Misa’s Journey From Exceptional Status to NHL Draft
Today, Misa is 18 and one of the top prospects in this year’s draft. The Oakville, Ontario, Canada native just wrapped up a monster season with the Ontario Hockey League’s Saginaw Spirit, racking up 134 points in 65 games, an under-18 record not seen since 2007.
In 2022, Michael was granted exceptional player status, letting him enter the OHL a year early. Only a few players have earned that. He went first overall to Saginaw and quickly proved he belonged.
To say Michael Misa is a special talent would be an understatement.
The former exceptional status player just recorded the most OHL points in a season since Patrick Kane and John Tavares nearly 20 years ago! 🤯
Watch the 2025 #NHLDraft Lottery tomorrow at 7p ET on @espn,… pic.twitter.com/qpdkCbUy8M
— NHL (@NHL) May 4, 2025
During their 2024 Memorial Cup run, Michael was asked to take a backseat and play a supporting role. He took it in stride.
“That’s hockey sometimes,” Michael said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I did definitely play a little bit of a depth role that year, but I think just trying to improve my game and find ways to help my team win,”
There have been bumps. Michael was not invited to Canada’s World Junior camp. It could’ve rattled him, but it didn’t.
“Disappointing I wasn’t able to help them out or even get an invite to try and prove myself,” Michael said. “Just shifted my mind back to Saginaw and try and help them win, but definitely it was like a little chip on my shoulder.”
That mindset paid off. Scouts love his two-way game, hockey smarts, and leadership. Many think he’ll go second overall, possibly to the San Jose Sharks. If he drops, then the Chicago Blackhawks might not wait long.
Whatever team calls his name, they’ll be getting a player who’s been proving himself since he was four years old and whose parents, Frank and Sandra, spotted that something special long before the rest of the world did.
