Michael Misa has shown lots of promise in his rookie season.
“Kid’s going to turn up some juicy numbers,” an NHL scout, not with the San Jose Sharks, told San Jose Hockey Now. “He’s going to control the pace of a shift.”
Macklin Celebrini and Misa “will be possibly the best one-two center alignment in the NHL” one day, this scout predicts.
“These two centers will change the West.”
But today?
Misa, the No. 2 pick of the 2025 NHL Draft, is just trying to earn a little more ice-time in his rookie campaign.
How can he get more playing time?
The 19-year-old San Jose Sharks’ center played a career-high 17:53 against the Philadelphia Flyers on March 21.
For the most part, however, Misa (13:12) has played less minutes than Macklin Celebrini (21:59), Alex Wennberg (20:20), and sometimes, fourth-line center Zack Ostapchuk (10:19), since his return from World Juniors on January 11. On the surface, playing that much less than Celebrini and Wennberg might not make sense.
But there is a logical reason for this: Celebrini and Wennberg are special teams’ staples, and even Ostapchuk plays more on the second-unit penalty kill than Misa on the second-unit power play. Misa isn’t necessarily ready for either top power play time or short-handed minutes.
At even strength, Misa (12:07) is much closer in deployment to Wennberg (14:41). Celebrini (18:41), of course, is the alpha dog, while Ostapchuk (8:38) brings up the rear.
“For the most part, we’re a good team when we roll our lines,” San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “When he’s going, he’s playing. But there are games, as a young guy, you just fight a little bit, you play him a little bit less. And that’s something that he’s learning.”
Functionally, Misa is the Sharks’ third-line center right now, a heavy burden in a playoff race. He’s done a credible job there, too, especially offensively, with six goals and 13 points in 27 games since Jan. 11.
But what’s he got to do, in all honesty, to overtake Wennberg as the Sharks’ second-line center? If not this year, then next? It’s not that complicated, according to Warsofsky…but it’s not easy, either.
