The next exceptional status player is on his way, as Michael Misa was announced as the first-overall pick in the upcoming OHL draft. The Saginaw Spirit, who won the lottery to select first, confirmed that Misa would be their selection, despite the draft not actually being held until Friday evening.
Misa, 15, is the sixth player to be granted exceptional status by the OHL and eighth overall. He joins John Tavares, Connor McDavid, Aaron Ekblad, and Shane Wright as those who have been selected first in the OHL draft following that status. Sean Day, the other exceptional status player for that league, went fourth to the Mississauga Steelheads in 2013.
While many will point to Day–who only made his NHL debut this season after being selected in the third round by the New York Rangers in 2016–as proof that the exceptional status moniker doesn’t necessarily guarantee future success, three of the other players given it in the OHL ended up going first overall in their respective NHL drafts, and Wright is expected to continue that trend this year. Misa will now carry that pressure as the “next one” after a brilliant performance at the OHL Cup, where he tallied 20 points in just seven games, winning the tournament MVP and tying the all-time record.
Not eligible for selection into the NHL until 2025, the young Oakville native will still have to prove it at the OHL level before anyone puts him at the top of a draft board. Ending up in Saginaw means he won’t have to deal with his older brother Luke Misa as much, as he plays for the Mississauga Steelheads in the league’s other conference.
He’ll also have the pressure of turning Saginaw into a contender. The Spirit went 24-43-1 this season and have never won an OHL championship in their history, going only as far as the third round in 2019 when they were led by the likes of Cole Perfetti and Owen Tippett.