F Michael Misa - Saginaw Spirit, OHL (2025 Draft)

[Hockeyville USA]

He was never generational. He had an otherworldly ohl cup and that was the tipping point to give him ES.

ES isn't what it used to be though, almost every year someone is at least considered for it. It basically just means you are the best player in Canada for that age group and a bit better than a "normal year" at this point.

Just in the last 5 years there are multiple players better at thay age than misa (Bedard, Dupont, McKenna) from Canada alone.

He had and still has elite potential, but he wasn't even close to generational, that's just unfair expectations

Pretty sure Marek or others in the O circles reported or alluded to that Hockey Canada and the Ontario Hockey Federation was on the fence about granting Misa Exceptional Status, but caved and gave it to him because they'd lost so many players to the Chicago Steel and NCAA route (Power, Fantilli, Celebrini, Hage) so they felt they needed to give it to him to keep Misa in Canada.

 

[Mathieukferland]

Pretty sure Marek or others in the O circles reported or alluded to that Hockey Canada and the Ontario Hockey Federation was on the fence about granting Misa Exceptional Status, but caved and gave it to him because they'd lost so many players to the Chicago Steel and NCAA route (Power, Fantilli, Celebrini, Hage) so they felt they needed to give it to him to Misa in Canada.

Yeah, he definitely threatened to leave. To be fair to him, he did show he merited it; notwithstanding Bédard’s shortened bubble season, he had the highest PPG of all ES players in their 15 year old season. No one ever considered him generational but a very solid number one candidate nonetheless