“Growing up, I wasn’t the fastest kid, so I had to try and have something, and I could always think really well,” said Mikey, who is entering his sixth season on the blue line with the Kings after being drafted in the fourth round in 2017. “My dad says it probably starts from the backyard rink because Joey always had the puck so I never could get it. I had to try and think of ways to stop him or find a way to get it and still win.”
It wasn’t always hockey in the Anderson household. Baseball, tennis, golf – you name it the family embraced it, thanks to some due diligence from mom and dad at the end of every hockey season.
“My mom would take our skates and hide our gear for at least two months every summer,” said Mikey. “Looking back at it now, we learned so many other skills from playing those different sports and making up games on the fly. Just getting outside and being a kid and not being so gung-ho on being just a hockey player. It lets you enjoy different aspects of life.”
And those breaks never deterred Mikey from reaching the pinnacle of his career. Mikey joined his brother Joey at the University of Minnesota Duluth and won back-to-back national titles in 2018 and 2019 before turning pro after the 2019 win. Since then, Mikey has asserted himself as one of the Kings pillar defenseman, signing a lucrative and well-earned eight-year contract in 2023. Through 352 career games he has 65 assists and 83 points and is a plus-72 in his career. Last season he took his game to another level in the absence of Drew Doughty, who missed the season with injury.