BREAKING: Michael Misa SIGNS Entry-Level Contract | Will He SURPASS Will Smith’s ROOKIE Performance?

BREAKING: Michael Misa SIGNS Entry-Level Contract | Will He SURPASS Will Smith’s ROOKIE Performance?

Our long national nightmare is over as Michael Misa officially signs his entrylevel contract. What’s next? You’re Locked on Sharks, your daily podcast on the San Jose Sharks, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Hello, welcome to Locked on Sharks, the premier hockey podcast covering your favorite team in the Bay Area. My name is JD Young, caretaker at the Reef, my blog about the San Jose Sharks with an emphasis on Sharks prospects. Uh, also the co-host of Locked on NHL. I want to thank you for making the Locked on Sharks your first listen. Proudly part of the Locked On. We cover your team every day. And if you want to be in every day, all you have to do just follow along wherever you get podcast. Of course, you can watch on YouTube as well. And we have it is finally here. Michael Misa finally signs his entrylevel contract. Uh we’re going to discuss if it’s the right move. Uh some quotes from Misa. We’ll get into kind of his quick reminder of what the Sharks are getting with Michael Misa, the second overall pick. Uh, plus look at some year one expectations for MISA and why I think somewhere between what we saw from Will Smith and Melbrini feels like uh a a really solid kind of suggestion for Misa. So before we get to all that, do want to let you guys know that today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Dial the FanDuel app now by visiting fanuel.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. So, we did it, guys. We made it through the summer. And Michael Misa, I did say on the eve of training camp, uh the Sharks, uh rookie face off starts on Friday. Uh they had the rookies had their first uh practice today. Um and look at that, Michael Misa officially a San Jose Shark. Uh signs his entry level contract. Uh just as a quick reminder crash course um the Sharks are at uh 49 contracts right now with Michael Misa, Sam Dickinson, and Leo Salenius all expected to slide or are now slide eligible. Those contracts become official contracts uh when and if they play 10 NHL games. We know Leo Salin Wenius are is going to be over in Europe playing in the SHL all season. that contract’s going to slide. Dickinson and Misa are both expected to at least play their first nine games in the NHL, then kind of make a decision from there. So, the Sharks will have to, if they do keep Dickinson and Misa, will have to kind of uh part ways with a contract, whether it’s for trade, uh whether they put a player on uh you know, on termination, whatever. Like there’s there’s ways to get about it. We’ll get as as we go through training camp, we’ll kind of see what the Sharks do here. So, um, but Michael Misa signing his ELC, 100% the right move for San Jose and for Michael Misa. Uh, Misa clearly has nothing left to prove in the OHL. Uh, having, you know, been the little CHL player of the year last year, a Memorial Cup champion. um like he he’s done everything that he can do in the OHL and if he doesn’t make the team, he can still go back to the OL, but I think the writing on the wall is pretty clear that Misa is going to spend the entire season with the San Jose Sharks. And uh I I think this is the right move for him because I I think the Sharks have shown as as you know recently as last season that they can handle a young player on the roster and kind of get him up to speed and then you know once said player is ready to kind of go they kind of know when to take the training wheels off and let this player go. And I think Michael Misa is going to be an excellent player for the San Jose Sharks as soon as this year. And we’ll talk about more of kind of the expectations for Misa later on in the episode. But uh you know even Misa you know when talking to the media today you know they asked him like did you think about going to college and he was like not really I I wanted to play in the NHL and very like early in the process and you know kind of with with Misa I thought he was going to be a college player but the more I dove into his game and watched his film and kind of I I I do think this could be one of those just like we talked about with Will Smith last year. There’s going to be a lot of parallels between Misa and Smith to be honest. Um, not only in this episode, but throughout the season. Um, but Misa playing in the NHL, he’s going to be a better player this time next year than if he had gone to college because I think if he had gone to college by Thanksgiving, he’s probably dominating the the NCAA. Like to be honest, I just think he’s that good of a player. Like and if you remember Will Smith, right, it was about Thanksgiving or so when the light bulb clicked for Will Smith in college and then he was one of the best players in the NCAA last year or in his in his freshman season, right? Um and with Misa, I I think his ability to play in all three zones, his attention to detail, his ability to drive the game, like drive offense. Um, and I I just think he’s going to, yes, he’s going to have some growing moments, as you would expect with an 18-year-old kid navigating the NHL, but I think he’s going to come out as a better player than if he had gone to college for a season. Um, so, you know, uh, some other kind of quick things in, you know, with quotes and stuff from him. Um, he said that he’s been playing basically since the beginning of August. He’s been playing with professional players. Um, you know, I guess Sam Gier has been hosting this kind of like camp thing and he’s been playing with like John Travaris and Taylor Hall and, you know, a bunch of NHL players and trying to kind of work on those like puck battles and strength and all those kind of habits and stuff like that. So, Misa is attacking this with the right way. Like he’s not like he’s he’s been basically acting like a professional since the moment, you know, he got drafted or even before he got drafted. And even when you go back to the draft, one of the first things he said after he got drafted is, “My goal is to play in the NHL.” And he is not. It very much seems like he’s not messing around uh with this. And I again, you know, he still has to go through camp, but I like unless he has a horrific horrific training camp, I think uh I think the plan will be for him to spend the entire season um up here in San Jose playing with the the Sharks this season. So, um, other kind of little, you know, nuggets and quotes and stuff like that for for Misa. Uh, sounds like he’s going to be living with the Tofoles, which I think is a great great decision. Uh, we know Celabbrini is going to be living with Joe Thornton again. We know, uh, Will Smith is going to be living with the Marlo again. Uh, so Tyler Tofo feels like a natural option for a guy who may be the next captain of the Sharks with with Tofoley. But uh we know Tofo is not going anywhere. Like this more confirmation that Tyler Tofo is not leaving the like the Sharks. I know I keep seeing the like maybe the Sharks might trade to like Tyler Defo is not going anywhere, man. He just wants to go hang out with kids and uh you know hang out with the kids and go to the rink every day and it seems like he’s pretty happy in living in the Bay Area. So, I think for, you know, Misa to live with Tofully, a guy, you know, who’s like a player on the team, a big-time leader on the team, um, you know, and and I think he’s going to be in a really great situation, and a guy like to who’s kind of been there and done that, right? He’s a guy who’s been traded a bunch of times. He’s kind of gone through the ups and downs. He’s won a cup. Uh, I think living with the Tofole. Congrats, Cat, on your new adult child. Uh, so, uh, I hope Misa like he has to pick up Stella’s dog poop or something like that as part of the chores. You know, he got to earn his keep, uh, around the house. So, uh, do not envy Stella or do not envy Cat and I’m sure that food bill uh, between Misa and I’m sure Smith and Celebrity coming over as well. Uh, do not envy that that grocery bill. But, um, though, congrats congrats to Misa again. I think this is 100% the right and you know as as like I said as I kind of dug into this process with Nissa and watched his game more and stuff. I when I very early on I was like I think a year of college but now I I do think NHL is the right decision. I think he’s going to flourish in the NHL and I think uh the Sharks have themselves a very special player uh coming with Michael Misa. So, we’re going to kind of go through the Michael Misa experience, what the Sharks are getting here, where he can help San Jose, kind of all that fun stuff. Plus, we’ll talk about year one expectations, and why I think uh he’ll be on the crash course version of the Will Smith path to success. So, uh we’ll get to all that here in just one second. Most people can’t name all their financial accounts or even what they’re worth, whether it’s their 401ks, properties, or investments. When you don’t have the full picture, you can end up leaving money on the table. That’s where Monarch Money comes in. 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That’s 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com with code locked on NHL. All right, before we continue, do of course want to thank you for making Locked on Sharks your first listen today. For your second listen, uh either go check out the episode I did earlier today, um or check out the Locked On NHL podcast, the NHL podcast. There’s no offseason. Bringing you daily leaguewise stories that matter the most with local coverage you love from Locked On. Find Locked On YouTube, wherever you listen to podcast. So, really quick though, um surprise and know surprise episode. We will still have a normal like we’re we’re still doing our training camp preview. Um the defense, so we’re going to do a whole episode on the defense and kind of the diff, you know, the the training camp battles there. That’ll come out um early Thursday morning. Um so, probably like 8:00 a.m. 9:00 a.m. Pacific time. Uh so that’ll be your normal Thursday episode and then we will have on Friday uh an episode to get you ready for the rookie tournament and kind of dive into the roster all that fun stuff. So plenty of of great stuff here coming along. So like don’t think like we’re not going to continue to to kind of look at the training camp extra full size extra episode here because again uh the Sharks signed Michael Misa. So uh pretty big news. So, what are the Sharks actually getting with Misa and what makes him so intriguing and such a a like highly touted prospect? I’m glad you asked. Uh, so Misa, uh, of course, the second overall pick, uh, 6’1, about 85 pounds now, and he said he’s been working on getting his muscle, left-handed shot, was a second overall pick, uh, of course this year out of Sagenolon in the OHL. And again, I’ve seen this a bajillion times and it still makes me laugh. 65 games, 62 goals this season with Sagenov. It was almost a goal per game player. Uh 72 assists, led the entire CHL with points with 134. Um 284 shots on goal. Um Elite Prospects has Misa their kind of elevator pitch for him. A dynamic dual play a dual sorry play driving dual threat scoring center with exceptional details contact skills and machineike motor. One of the most well-rounded forwards to come out of the OHL in years with shades of Mlin Celerrini. It’s pretty good. Uh known for his engine, known for his vision, and known for his ability to kind of think the game. um on a one to nine rating and like nines like nobody gets nines like just put this in perspective like nobody gets nines from elite prospects like even celebrating last year like he had eights I think was his highest he had an eight but uh Misa rated a seven as a uh skating seven as a shooter seven as a passing seven as a handler seven and a half as a hockey sense with a 6.5 physical a grade for him. Like uh Michael Misa just uh again one of the cleanest prospects you have seen um over the past couple seasons and especially with his ability to play in all three zones which is why I think spoiler he’s going to very quickly adapt to the NHL. Um, looking at the the way they kind of ranked him, like he was the best forward offensive forward in this draft, the best transition forward in this draft, the best two-way forward in this draft, the highest floor, um, the one of the best uh, straight line skaters, one of the best visions, ceiling, like Michael Misa has it all. Um, he’s ability to create space, his ability to shoot, score, whatever you need Michael Misa to do, he’s very good at it. He’s excellent at it. Uh again, one of the cleanest prospects you have seen coming out, especially out of the OHL the past couple seasons. Um looking at NHL Foley, the way he kind of like uh rates and and uses his uh uh data from Instat to kind of see how kind of percentiles, etc., etc. Misa was a 95 percentile offensive player this season um in the games that he tracked at five on five playing about six almost 17 six and a half minutes at five on five um like just ridiculous stats 96 percentile scoring 97.1 percentile defensively uh eight 58.5% uh defensively and the thing that kills them is is minus that’s because sagenol you have to keep context. Sagenol had no defense in goalending, so they had to win every game six to five, right? Uh his transitions are outstand like Michael Misa just dominates when he is on the ice. Misa uh commands respect from everybody out there because of his style of play and he drags along anybody else out there to make him uh a better player. Um, advanced hockey stats, they have him as a 99% uh, chance to become an NHLer. Uh, which for them is a 200 play 200 games with a positive war. So, wins above replacement. Uh, he is an 87% chance to become a star. Uh, which is uh, basically being in the top 18 and a half% uh, of wins above replacement per 82 games. basically your your wins above replacements or your ability to affect the game positively as one of the top like 20% in the NHL. So, and then Byron Bader uh has him as a 75 percentile player to chance to be an NHLer. Uh his kind of is just playing 200 plus games. Uh I think that’s extremely low for Michael Misa with a 65% chance to be a star and that for him is a.7 career points per game uh player uh for Michael Misa. So um the Sharks are getting an extremely special player who has done everything you can ask for and this is an exceptional status player who got to play OHL games early because of how special of a player he is. uh and he lived up to those expectations, right? How often do you see players, you know, sometime they get lived up and hyped up and then they’re never not able to meet those expectations. He did it in the OHL, right? Won a Memorial Cup. Um you know, with with Sagenov two years ago where they beat the London, uh was the OHL MVP this year, was the CHL MVP. Um like led the CHL in scoring. um Misa and we we saw Misa with Igor Sherneshaw like hit another level um you know second half of last year and I like this is a player who is going to like on most teams Misa is a 1C the Sharks are hash blessed to have Min Cabrini and putting Michael Misa as your projected long-term 2C because I think eventually I think it’s it’s going to be Michael Misa’s job because of his ability to play in all three zones and play a full 200 foot game will allow Will Smith to focus be more of a winger and focus on offense and let Will Smith be creative and and do cool Will Smith stuff. Um like the Sharks are basically getting a one seed to put on their second line to then dominate, right? And that’s how teams get an advantage, right? these extremely good teams. Uh they’re just stacked where you have two capable 1C type of players. I mean you look again I’m not trying to compare Celibbrini and Misa to McDavid and Dry Cidle but how often does you know having you know if you separate them what are when you play the Oilers right who do you focus on? Of course, we got to focus on McDavid and then, you know, we put our best defensers out there and then what happens after McDavid gets off. Dry Cidle comes in and again, Dry Cidle would be a one se on most teams in the NHL. Um, but and then and then in case you things go really bad, you got to put them together. Educat the Misa Celibbrini Will Smith break glass in case of emergency line is going to feed families for the next 15 years guys. Like those three guys together when that first time we get to see all three of those guys together at some point is going to be electric. Uh so the Sharks are getting an extremely special player and because they already have Mlin Celebr is going to be in a position to exceed to succeed. Um and those two players are going to take pressure off of each other uh down the middle and the Sharks are going to have if one of the best one two punches down the middle here re very very soon between Celebrity and Misa. So, um, we’re going to focus more on year one expectations and why I think, uh, we’re going to get a crash course version of the Will Smith path to success, uh, for Michael Misa. Uh, so we’ll discuss that here in just one second. The NFL season ends here and FanDuel is making sure you’re ready for kickoff with a can’t miss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. A great thing about FanDuel is they have so many ways to play. 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All right. Uh, year one expectations for Michael Misa. Um, I do think he lands somewhere in between Will Smith and McMbrriny because what Celbrini did last year, um, that’s again like Cbr is an extremely extremely special player. Um, who was, you know, the number one pick in the draft like a a franchise changing type of player. And again, I’m not saying Michael Misa isn’t a good player, but I’m trying to be realistic with my expectations here where, you know, basically from day one, like Celibbrini was one of, if not the best player for the San Jose Sharks, right? And you would say right now, who’s the best player on the San Jose Sharks? I I think like 95% of people are going to say it’s Min Cabrini. I mean, Tyler toy people or whoever you want to pick, like I get it. I’m going to say it’s Min Celebrin. I think Malcolini is the best player on the San Jose Sharks right now as a 19-year-old, but I think Misa is going to be somewhere in between where I maybe not the Celibbrini type of impact that we saw last year, but I think he I think things click for him quicker than we saw with Will Smith, right? And Will Smith definitely struggled. It’s, you know, I I think it’s very fair to say he struggled um in the first half of the season, right? and you know didn’t get his first goal until you know right around Halloween. Um and you saw flashes and you saw moments where you know like Will Smith just kind of wasn’t you know kind of picking up with the speed of the game. Um right and it just that kind of that processing speed for Will Smith like he was trying to do a little bit too much. he just wasn’t quite there. And we saw the way the Sharks handled it, right, with the development days and no backtobacks and spending some extra time in the gym and spending some more time working with with uh with Will Smith. And I think that’s the approach the San Jose Sharks are going to take with Michael Misa, right? I wouldn’t be surprised if early in the season and especially right because you know Misa is going to be playing in all these um he’s gonna be playing in the rookie tournament this weekend. He’s probably gonna play in a majority, if not all the preseason games, right? Um I wouldn’t be surprised if early on they kind of keep keep the training wheels on Misa, right? And because they know it’s a long season, keep the training wheels on on Misa, play him on the third line, you play him with a veteran like Alex Wberg, just like we saw last year with Will Smith, you put him in that position to succeed early and as he gains his confidence and he proves he’s ready to be an NHL everyday NHL player and you start to kind of see more of those flashes and more of that consistency and he starts to kind of earn more ice time, then you take the training wheels off, right? And with knowing, hey, if things start to kind of stumble a little bit, we can always take a step back, right? Go back to some of the development days or whatever we need to do. Again, we we’re we’re not thinking about this year. We know this team is not going to compete this year, right? We know they’re going to be a better team, but we know this isn’t a playoff team or anything like that. The goal is is, you know, next year and two years and five and 10 years, right? and and letting these young guys grow together and get building that chemistry and building that confidence and putting these guys in a position to succeed. And I think with Michael Misa, the way he plays and his attention to detail and the style that he plays and his once it kind of clicks for him, I I don’t think there’s going to be a ton of kind of regression, right? Not to say he’s not going to have rookie mistakes and stuff, but I just think that his the way he plays, especially compar and the questions that we have with Misa aren’t anywhere near what we had with Will Smith, right? Will Smith it was how’s his defensive game going to be, right? He never really had to play defense much in college, etc., etc. Like, you don’t really have as much as like Misa’s questions are, well, how’s he just going to play against the pros, right? because he he played a ton of defensive assignments for Sagena. He was on the penalty kill a lot like he was double shifted multiple times for like you know a a lot of the season like took on a lot of penalty kill duties, played a lot of in his own zone. Um it’s just for Misa is just getting used to playing against NHL players, right? And and playing against guys who are just as big, just as fast as you. So, I think I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s like by Thanksgiving where Misa kind of gets to training wheels off and he’s playing full schedule back to backs and we start seeing his minutes maybe creep up from like 13 14 minutes which is what Will Smith was playing kind of the first half of the season up to 16 17 minutes right and I don’t expect him to be that kind of 20 minute player that um that we saw from Minabbrini but if you I think by the end of the season or you know kind of halfway through the season if Mis is playing 18 19 minutes a night I think we’re going to be in a good spot and then the next question is how soon is he in the top six which I would assume by then if he’s playing 18 19 minutes a not night and then how soon is Misa playing on center and I think the Misa playing center question will probably go based on how Will Smith does with it and if Will Smith struggles early May and Misa kind of comes up to speed very quickly. It might be a very quick transition there and maybe they have Wenberg play it for a little bit. But um you know I I do think long term it’s going to be Misa with it’s going to be Celebrity Misa down the middle and then Will Smith will probably slide to the wing. And the great thing is if somebody gets hurt, you have three guys who can play top like you have celebrating Smith and Misa who can all be top six wing or centers, right? Um in a pinch and I I think that it’s it’s nice to have some flexibility there. So uh super excited though that Michael Misa has signed his ELC. Um we can finally finally now enjoy this man. If Sam Dickson makes the team too, the Sharks could have four players 20 and under uh on this NHL roster. Uh old man Will Smith uh with all these all these children running around as well. So, u but that’s going to be it for me today. Like I said, we’ll be back uh probably early to you know, probably about 8 or 9:00 a.m. Uh check your feeds then. If you haven’t subscribed, perfect time to subscribe. Uh put the push to 5K on YouTube. It’s it’s coming, guys. like want to get it done before before opening night. So, uh make sure you guys are following along. Uh like I said, we’ll talk defenseman and all the guys kind of vying for those that defensive battles there for training camp uh on your next episode and then we’ll get you guys ready for uh rookie tournament on Friday. So, make sure you follow along wherever you get podcast. Watch on YouTube as well. Follow the show on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and on Tik Tok. Uh follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky Fryhole. Till tomorrow. Bye friends.

Michael Misa’s entry-level contract with the San Jose Sharks is official, marking a new era for the team’s future. This dynamic dual-threat center brings exceptional skills and a machine-like motor to the NHL, drawing comparisons to top prospect Macklin Celebrini.

JD Young breaks down Misa’s impressive OHL stats, including 62 goals and 72 assists in 65 games, and analyzes his potential impact on the Sharks’ lineup. The discussion explores how Misa fits into San Jose’s long-term plans alongside Will Smith and Celebrini, potentially forming a formidable center trio reminiscent of the Edmonton Oilers’ McDavid-Draisaitl duo.

Young predicts Misa’s rookie season trajectory, from starting on the third line to potentially playing 18-19 minutes per game by season’s end. He also shares insights on Misa’s summer training with NHL players and his living arrangements with Tyler Toffoli’s family.

Tune in to hear why Misa’s signing is “100% the right move” for both player and team, and how he could reshape the San Jose Sharks’ future.

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro: Michael Misa signs entry-level contract
5:08 Misa’s NHL readiness and development path
10:47 What the Sharks are getting with Misa
16:58 Misa’s exceptional status and accomplishments
23:05 Year one expectations for Michael Misa

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