Michael Misa (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
The San Jose Sharks’ Michael Misa enters his rookie season with high expectations.
The No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft was an OHL legend, establishing himself as a playmaking winger. The 6-foot-1 Misa set records after being granted exceptional player status at the age of 15 — just the eighth player to do so — with 1.24 points per game. He broke John Tavares’ OHL record of 1.18 points per game and outpaced Connor McDavid’s 1.05 points per game.
Rising Star With Ontario Roots
Unsurprisingly, Misa has often been compared to Tavares, with both players hailing from Ontario. Tavares also happens to play for Misa’s childhood favorite team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. The 18-year-old Misa also mentions former Boston Bruins great Patrice Bergeron as another role model.
“In terms of modeling my game, I think it’s a bit like John Tavares and a mix of, I want to say Patrice Bergeron,” says Misa in a one-on-one interview. “Just two reliable centremen that are obviously incredible players, and just trying to watch them a lot and model my game after them.”
Misa was born in Oakville, Ontario, which is just 23 minutes away from Mississauga, where Tavares was born. Misa is trying to earn a spot on the Sharks’ roster as a rookie as a second-line centre behind Macklin Celebrini.
Tavares has obviously made a name for himself as one of the best centres of his generation, garnering six All-Star bids while serving as the captain of his teams for basically his entire NHL career.
“He’s a center,” says Misa. “Some of the plays and stuff with his style of play, I can relate to it.”
Unsurprisingly, Misa — who is well known for his offensive game — is looking forward to matching up against similarly-skilled players such as McDavid and Sidney Crosby in the NHL. He calls those two hockey greats “incredible” players and most people aspiring to become hockey players should look up to them.
He also singles out Mitch Marner as someone he’s looking forward to playing against because of his well-known history as a Maple Leafs player.
Marner is now a member of the Las Vegas Golden Knights, with the Sharks matching up against them in the season opener on Oct. 9.
“I know if I make the roster opening night, we play Vegas, and Mitch Marner was probably my favorite player growing up,” says Misa. “I watched him in London, and then Leafs fans got to see him a lot. That’d be pretty cool. The obvious one would probably be Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid.”
When asked about goaltenders he’s looking to match up against, Misa singles out three — Sergei Bobrovsky, Andrei Vasilevsky, and Connor Hellebuyck. He says all three of those goalies stand out to him, not just because of their excellent level of play, but because they’re all on the taller side.
In Vasilevsky and Hellebuyck’s case, they’re both 6-foot-4.
“They’re all pretty incredible,” says Misa. “What they’ve been able to do for their teams and playoffs, big games like that. They’re all pretty tall too and it’s hard to score on them.”
Misa is coming off his first two preseason games, playing the role of centre. He was able to get four shots off and engaged in 26 total face-offs during the preseason matchup against the Golden Knights. He didn’t record a point in those games, but he’ll be looking to do so before the Sharks wrap up their preseason slate.
He acknowledges that it was a little “nerve-wracking” before his first game. He says his second game wasn’t as nerve-wracking.
“The first one was a little bit more nerve-wracking, your first kind of taste of the NHL,” says Misa. (During the second game) I wasn’t as nervous, more just relaxed, trying to find a way to help our team win. Obviously, we didn’t, but just a little bit of nerves going into the first one.”
Learning From Sharks’ Core And Celebrini
Misa will be playing with Macklin Celebrini, the NHL’s top pick in the draft last year. The first-line centre is coming off a solid rookie campaign, posting 25 goals and 38 assists. His 25 goals were the second-most by an NHL rookie last season.
Although Celebrini is only a year older than Misa, he does have a year of experience under his belt that Misa does not. The biggest advice Celebrini has given Misa so far is the “strength and conditioning” aspect of the NHL.
“The biggest thing for me will just be the strength and conditioning,” says Misa. “I think a lot of people don’t realize how big conditioning is. Just getting up and down the ice, making plays when you’re tired and stuff, it goes a long way at that level. It was great to kind of hear that stuff from him.”
After going through training camp with him, Misa says Celebrini’s best traits are his playmaking and his vision on the ice.
“Just overall, how dominant he is,” says Misa. “It’s fun to watch when he gets the puck, something’s probably going to happen every time he has it. And he has it. I think offensively it’s his playmaking, and the way he’s able to see the ice is pretty incredible.”
The Ontario native mentions that all of the Sharks’ vets have been helpful when it comes to advice. Even though San Jose has the second-youngest roster in the NHL, they have a collection of proven veterans in Jeff Skinner, Tyler Toffoli, and John Klingberg.
“They’ve been telling me to keep with it,” says Misa. “Every day come to the rink, want to get better, just stack days. I think the biggest thing is because it’s a long season, your body’s going to get a little sore at times and stuff. They just kind of said to keep going with it.”
Misa obviously had a historic stint in the OHL with the Saginaw Spirit. He says the biggest thing he learned there was how to demand the puck and make plays all over the ice.
“Last year was my draft year, I made that move back to centre, which I think helped me a lot,” says Misa. “Just wanting the puck and demanding the puck, trying to make plays all over the ice was what helped me. When I’m most confident in myself and my abilities is when I play my best.”
Focused on a Complete Two-Way Game
He says the biggest thing he wants to improve on as he enters his rookie season is his 200-foot game. Misa is known mostly for his offensive playmaking, but he also wants to become known for being a solid defensive player too.
“Something I want to improve upon is my 200-foot game,” says Misa. “My offensive abilities have always been there. I’m able to make plays, find ways to try and score. But just being defensively reliable, everyone’s so much stronger, so trying to get guys up and help the play defensively. My best trait is probably my playmaking with my vision, able to see the ice.”