Michael Misa is back for his second season with the San Jose Sharks and he's accomplished quite a bit over the summer from the sound of it.
"It was good," Misa said of his summer. "Just trying to improve my game in every aspect. Trying to get faster, stronger. Working on my shot a lot."
During his time with the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League, Misa was known for his elite goalscoring ability on top of his playmaking. His final season at the major junior level, he scored 62 goals in 65 games. While he showed signs of that during his rookie season in the NHL, he didn't shoot very often. He had just 58 shots during the 2025-26 season, the 15th most on the Sharks. With that being said, when he did shoot, he scored regularly as he finished with a 15.5% conversion rate, just .2% behind Macklin Celebrini.
"I think my shooting was one, just shooting the puck more," Misa said when asked what he wanted to improve heading into the coming season. "[Also] protecting the puck in corners, being stronger on the puck. [Those are] two things I definitely focused on over the summer."
Misa also spent some time working with the aforementioned Celebrini, but he did say he was unable to confirm Gavin McKenna's claim of spending 17 hours on the ice. "I don't know if it was 17 hours because we only stayed for Monday to Saturday, but it was a couple skates a day," he said. "I know Gav was out there longer, so it might have been the next week he did that. But yeah, like I said, they're long days, but fun. Training out there with Mack and all the other NHL guys, it was a good experience."
Heading into his sophomore season, Misa spoke about what he needs to do to earn a bigger role this time around. "Just keep being reliable," he said. "I think winning face-offs is huge. Obviously, being defensively reliable is [something] every coach is looking for as a center."
Along with Igor Chernyshov, Michael Misa is one of the only played representing the Sharks at the 2026 Rookie Faceoff with NHL experience. While it was an unexpected turn of events for most, Misa is excited by it. "It's great. I get games right away," he said. These skates out there too, they're kind of just like training camp skates."
While Misa had a respectable rookie season, he has certainly put in quite a bit of work to make sure his second season in the NHL is even more memorable.
