{"id":660380,"date":"2026-09-11T23:54:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T23:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/660380\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T23:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T23:54:13","slug":"sharks-misa-excited-for-rookie-faceoff-added-muscle-during-off-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/660380\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks’ Misa Excited For Rookie Faceoff, Added Muscle During Off-Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hockey is back as the San Jose Sharks are set to host the 2026 Rookie Faceoff<\/a>, which includes some of the top players in the organization.<\/p>\n

Michael Misa<\/a> will play for the Sharks this weekend. Adding the 2025 NHL Draft<\/a> 2nd overall pick to the roster is a bit of a surprise move. Misa is excited to play, even if it is against fellow young players.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great. I mean, [you] get games right away. Go into main camp feeling good,\u201d Misa said after practice on Friday. \u201cThese skates out there too-they\u2019re kind of just like training camp skates. Any way to get better like that, it\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Misa sported new skates during Friday\u2019s practice: the CCM Vizions. Although a change like that might seem subtle, the centerman told SHD he feels very comfortable in them and is excited to play in the NHL with them. That isn\u2019t the only change Misa made this summer. The San Jose Sharks center told reporters he\u2019s gained roughly nine pounds of muscle. <\/p>\n

\u201cI gained just under 10, like nine pounds,\u201d Misa said. \u201cI feel good; I won\u2019t play at the weight I\u2019m at right now. Probably drop a couple pounds, but yeah, feel good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Misa is in the CCM Vizion skates this season. Says they are really comfortable. Couple of other #SJSharks<\/a> young guys in them as well.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Max Miller (@Real_Max_Miller) September 11, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Over the summer, Misa trained with star Macklin Celebrini<\/a> in Vancouver. While he didn\u2019t think he was on the ice for 17 hours in a week like 2026 first-overall pick Gavin McKenna<\/a> said he was, Misa valued the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if it was 17 hours because we only stayed from Monday to Saturday, but it was a couple skates a day,\u201d Misa said. \u201cI know Gav was out there longer, so it might have been the next week he did that with Gav. Like I said, they\u2019re long days, but fun. Training out there with Mack and all the other NHL guys. It was a good experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Misa also did the famous Grouse Grind climb in Vancouver. Although he didn\u2019t do it with Celebrini, he did with Sam Dickinson<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the toughest things that I ever did, to be honest,\u201d Misa said. \u201cWe finished at the exact same time, which was nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Jose Sharks prospect Carson Wetsch<\/a> told Sheng Peng<\/a> that a good time to finish is under 50 minutes. Wetsch, a VAN native, finished in 42 minutes this summer. Celebrini, who Wetsch says runs up the hill, completed it in 38 minutes.<\/p>\n

What does Misa playing at Rookie Faceoff really do for him?<\/p>\n

Michael Misa has a chance to play an elevated role for the San Jose Sharks in his second NHL season. San Jose Barracuda<\/a> coach John McCarthy<\/a> will be behind the bench over the weekend and shared why it is good to have Misa there.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s for the management, I would say. They felt like they should play, and I think it\u2019s good,\u201d McCarthy said of Misa and Igor Chernyshov<\/a>. \u201cI think the guys like it. It gives you an extra couple of games to get your legs under you. I personally like it from a coaching standpoint. It gets me back in the groove.\u201d<\/p>\n

Misa skated between Ivar Stenberg and Igor Chernyshov at practice on Friday, making what could be a very exciting line to watch.<\/p>\n

Misa echoed similar thoughts as to why he is excited to play in a game. But he also talked about what his expectations are for training camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be tough, fast pace. I think everyone\u2019s looking forward to it,\u201d Misa said. \u201cFor me, just take it day by day, and you know, go out there and just, you know, keep working like I\u2019ve been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a strong finish to his rookie season, the Sharks center could be the second center on the depth chart. For him, a good start to the season would be a team win.<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning the first game would be nice,\u201d Misa said. \u201cObviously, home opener, and yeah, I think that the biggest thing is getting the win in the first game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hockey is back as the San Jose Sharks are set to host the 2026 Rookie Faceoff, which includes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5127],"tags":[71567,19982,5,164,629,165,375,4,1196,519,168,5306,5305,1780,24660],"class_list":["post-660380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose-sharks","tag-2026-rookie-face-off","tag-grouse-grind","tag-hockey","tag-igor-chernyshov","tag-ivar-stenberg","tag-john-mccarthy","tag-michael-misa","tag-nhl","tag-sam-dickinson","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sanjose","tag-sanjosesharks","tag-sharks","tag-sj-sharks"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117255108286285504","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}