NHL Draft: Remember the name Michael Misa

Interest in the NHL Draft, as it relates to Long Island and specifically the Islanders, who hold the first overall selection on June 27, has focused either on Ontario Hockey League defenseman Matthew Schaefer, the projected No. 1 pick, or Hauppauge’s James Hagens, with bumper stickers cropping up calling for the Boston College center’s favorite team to “Bring Hagens Home.”

But that completely overlooks OHL prospect Michael Misa, considered by many the best forward available in the draft and with the potential to be an elite two-way, top-line center.

“There’s a lot of great prospects in this draft,” Misa said during the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo, which was held from June 1-7. “Coming into this year, I think I had a lot to prove to myself and to the world. I really tried to leave everything on the ice and I’ll walk out of here with no regrets.”

The NHL Central Scouting Bureau ranked the 6-1, 184-pound Misa, who had 62 goals and 72 assists in 65 games for Saginaw in his third season of junior hockey, second among North American skaters. He had been third in the midseason rankings, then swapped one spot with Hagens, who had been No. 2 at midseason.

The Sharks are expected to select Misa with the second pick. The Islanders, Sharks, Predators and Utah met with Misa over dinner during the week in Buffalo.

“I had a great interview with [the Islanders on June 2] and then went out to dinner with them [on June 5],” said Misa, who was born in Oakville, Ontario. “Overall, I had a lot of fun meeting them. Great organization. They’ve got a lot of great players on that team. A great young core coming up.”

Last year, the Sharks took Macklin Celebrini with the first overall selection. He finished the season as the team’s top-line center and was third in the balloting for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie.

So there was some pre-Combine speculation that the Sharks could make a push for the first pick to take a defenseman if the Islanders weren’t sold on drafting Schaefer (which they very much seem to be). The theory is that the teams could swap picks, with the Islanders satisfied to take Misa.

But new Islanders general manager and executive vice president Mathieu Darche said at his introductory news conference on May 29 that he does not expect to trade the pick.

“Anyone that calls, you have to listen,” Darche said that day. “But someone would really have to knock my socks off to trade that pick. I’m going to do my due diligence.”

Sharks, Islanders or otherwise, some NHL team will be getting a versatile player in Misa, who, best-case scenario, could become a game-changer.

“I feel like I am ready to make that jump [to the NHL] next year,” said Misa, whose older brother, Luke, was a fifth-round pick by the Flames last year. “It’s ultimately my goal to make the NHL next year. I think gaining that center experience that I had this year definitely helped my game.”

Misa primarily played wing his first two seasons with Saginaw before moving back to the middle, where he played before being drafted into the OHL. His 134 points last season as a center surpassed his combined two-season total of 131 as a wing.

“Ultimately, I wanted to make that jump back to center,” Misa said. “It helped my confidence level a lot. I feel a lot more comfortable down the middle, I got a lot more puck touches and just carried the play on my stick more. That’s definitely something that helped me.”

Schaefer has had the experience of defending against Misa on the ice, but last season, when he was limited to 17 OHL games because of an illness and a broken collarbone, Schaefer was able to appreciate Misa’s talents from a different perspective.

“Meese has done so many great things,” Schaefer said. “I was not playing as much, so I got to watch him a little bit more. You get to know him, great guy on and off the ice. Obviously, you battle and it’s great competition. But off the ice, we’ve become really close. So you want the best for him.”

The Islanders, obviously, have a direct impact on where Misa will start his NHL journey, be it on Long Island or, more likely, elsewhere.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.