Meet Michael Misa: Teenage hockey prodigy with NHL draft hopes honing his skills in Saginaw

SAGINAW, Mich. — The billboard got me.  

Heading Up North on I-75, I glanced to my left and spotted a billboard.

“Don’t ‘Misa’ moment,” it read.

Clever. Gotta love a little word play.

It featured a giant photograph of Michael Misa wearing a Saginaw Spirit sweater, holding a hockey stick.

A 15-year-old with his own billboard? A kid who isn’t even old enough to drive a car but he is projected to be one of the top picks in the 2025 NHL draft?

OK, I gotta check this kid out.

A special talent

It’s early February. The Spirit is getting ready to play the Flint Firebirds at the Dow Event Center — a cozy, fantastic, little arena in downtown Saginaw with easy, affordable parking right across the street.

A school bus pulls up outside the arena and members of a high school band pile out. They are going to play the national anthem. Through security. Into a hospitality room. A bunch of NHL scouts are eating dinner. And I meet Spirit general manager Dave Drinkill.

“What makes Misa so special?” I asked.

“His talent level is obviously extremely high,” Drinkill said. “The game looks slower to him. His skating abilities, his power. He’s just a hockey player at the end of the day. He's got a nose for the net and always makes other players better … but I think his best attribute is, he's a great kid. He's very, very humble and I think that allows him to be great on the ice. He's come in here and fit right in and been one of the guys. At the end of the day, he is leading our team in scoring, as a 15-year-old right now.”

Misa is just the seventh player in Ontario Hockey Federation history granted exceptional player status, which allowed him to jump up a level before he was technically old enough. Some of the others who received exceptional status? Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid, Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares and 2015 Calder Trophy winner Aaron Ekblad — all of whom were all chosen first overall in the OHL and later went No. 1 in the NHL draft.

Um, yeah, pretty good company.

Of course, as soon as Misa got the exceptional status, the Spirit promptly selected the Oakville, Ontario, native first overall.

“Extremely high hockey IQ,” Drinkill says. “Obviously, as a young player in the league, if you're 15, 16, 17 you're gonna have peaks and valleys, hitting the wall. There's been times where it looks like he's gonna hit a bit of a wall but still ends up generating a point or two. So he's definitely a special kid on and off the ice.

“He's done everything we've asked for him off the ice. He does all the community stuff. Signs autographs for the fans. There's a lot of Misa jerseys in the crowd and a lot of young fans here, who are gonna look up to him for the next few years and then follow him on to his actual career. So, you know, it's very cool, the impact he's making in our community. It’s the way he was raised. You could tell he was raised properly. He’s got great parents.”

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Exception to the rule

Up the stairs. To my seat.

Misa is on the ice, going through warmups.  He wears No. 77. For all kinds of symbolic reasons.

First of all, he was born in 2007 — he turned 16 on Thursday. And the other seven is a subtle wink to getting that exceptional player status. Just the seventh player in history.

The game begins and Misa fits right in. A 15-year-old hanging with players who have already been picked in the NHL draft.

“It’s the way he can handle the puck, the way he sees the ice,” said Hunter Haight, his Saginaw teammate, who was a second-round pick by the Minnesota Wild in 2022. “He's a great playmaker, and obviously, he finds the back of the net, too. It's just impressive at his age.”

My first impression: Misa has an innate knack to be in the right spot at the right time. I watch him set up a teammate perfectly, recording an assist. It's no wonder that, despite playing just 40 of the team's 55 games this season and missing the last two weeks, he leads the team with 21 goals and is second with 50 points.

“I think like the number one thing for me is his competitiveness,” coach Chris Lazary said. “He is arguably our hardest working player most nights especially when it comes to tracking and digging in and battling. It's been really impressive to see a kid who is underage have that compete and that work ethic and that zero fear mentality.”

Already talks like an old pro

The next week, I return to Saginaw and meet Misa outside the locker room. It’s just two days after Misa was injured in a game against London. There were reports he had to be helped off the ice following a hit.

“What happened?” I ask.

“Lower leg injury,” he says.

He sounds like a grizzled vet. Handled that perfectly. Didn’t reveal anything.

“I’m week to week.”

So, for now, his fantastic season is on hold for a bit.

But there’s no doubt that it has been impressive.

“I'm just growing as a person,” he says. “I left at such a young age. But my older teammates have really helped me along the way. I think we have the best team in the O — on ice and off the ice, just the way they treat us and everything we do in our systems. I really enjoy it.”

Misa is playing against some guys who are 20, players who have already found their “man strength.”

“Honestly, the biggest adjustments at the start were the speed and physicality,” he says. “Obviously, tough to get used to but I think I'm feeling pretty good right now.”

He certainly looks like he belongs. In his Saginaw debut, he scored two goals; and he was named the OHL rookie of the month in October.

“It was like he was playing chess, everyone else's playing checkers,” Lazary said. “The game is just slower for him, it's just easier for him. But he doesn't want any attention. He's a great teammate, and it starts with his family. Just humble people. Great people. They love their kid. And they support him.”

Chasing a dream

Misa grew up in a town between Toronto and Hamilton.

Lazary and Drinkill scouted Misa last year when he was playing for the under-16 AAA Mississauga Senators. Actually, they were scouting Misa and some of his talented teammates. Misa led the Senators to the OHL Cup with 20 points in seven games, breaking McDavid’s tournament scoring record.

Misa didn’t even know it. “Saw it on social media,” he says.

With nothing left to prove at the 16-and-under, even as a 14-year-old, Misa applied for the “exceptional player” status.

“It's a long process,” Misa said. “First, you have to write an essay on why you want it. Then there was an interview where they come to your house and just like kind of test your maturity level and give you scenario questions.”

The Spirit put together a developmental plan for Misa, as they do for every player. And they presented it to Misa and his parents.

“We wanted to make sure they knew everything that they were getting into,” Lazary said. “It's a 15-year-old kid leaving a good home. He's got great parents, really solid, and he's got a brother in the league. So, we wanted to make sure they knew he was going to a safe spot and that we’ve had high end players before.”

He is staying with a billet family, along with Bode Stewart, 17, a teammate also from Oakville and played with Misa on the Senators.

That has made the transition even easier.

“We live together so it's not bad,” Misa says. “I've known him for a while now. So it was good. It's helped a lot.”

Misa attends Saginaw Heritage High School, taking regular classes.

“We go to school in the morning from 8:30 to 11:20,” Misa says. “We all go there together and then we organize rides to head to the rink in the afternoon.”

He has had to make so many adjustments. Living in a new home. Going to a new high school. And joining a new team.

Then, there’s the travel. The Spirit travel on a team bus, which means some long rides.

“There is wifi on the bus but it's not very strong though,” he says. “There's outlets to do homework and stuff if you need to.”

All in the family

Back in October, there was a seriously cool moment for the Misa family.

Michael’s older brother, Luke, 17, plays for the Mississauga Steelheads.

When the teams played in October, the two Misa brothers were sent out for the opening draw.

“It was awesome,” Michael says. “We were laughing and stuff.”

Michael’s father wore Luke’s sweater, his mother had a Spirit sweater.

And Michael had an assistant, as Saginaw won, 4-3.

“It was a good experience,” Michael Misa says. “Luke is probably my biggest supporter and he gave me advice. He just told me how the transition is going to be tough and gave me tips along the way.”

The advice has worked. Michael doesn’t seem fazed by any of this.

Playing up a level. Being the youngest player on the ice.

He has been, quite literally, simply exceptional.