It may be the middle of the season, but that isn’t going to stop new players from joining the SMJHL. Just this morning, Nicolaj Muller decided it would be a great time to say, “Fuck it. I’m joining a league”. He did just that. At 12:43 AM EST he made it official.
About His Play

This Swiss two-way forward is no joke. At a height of 6 feet and 7 inches and with a weight of 280 lbs, Muller can really play the body if he needs to. To round out his defensive game, he focuses intensely on his positioning in the offensive and defensive zone to help produce chances for his teammates. On the offensive side of things, Muller is a shoot-first player. He uses his high skating and puck handling abilities to his advantage to maintain possession of the puck and to skate across the rink.

Interview

We took a trip to go visit Muller to see what he had to say about joining the SMJHL. Here is a transcript of part of the conversation:

Me: Why the hell did you decide to join so late in the season? You could’ve just waited for the trade deadline to pass. That way you could be drafted.

Nicolaj Muller: Getting drafted is overrated. The experience of being a free agent is great! Teams are crawling to get to know me!

Me: We have insider reports that GMs from only 3 of the 10 total SMJHL teams have reached out to you. How can you say that "teams are crawling to get to know you" if not even half the teams have contacted you yet?

NM: Well, you see… I don’t have an answer for that. Maybe they are just scared of me.

Me: Have you considered that they just don’t care, or even need you since they have enough shoot first forwards?

NM: No comment.

Me: Okay… Let’s move on… Alright, so what do you see yourself trying to improve upon once you join a team.

NM: Probably my Defense and Skating. But really everything could use some boosting.

...

Me: Do you have any last thoughts that you want to put out there before we conclude this interview?

NM: Any teams that haven’t contacted me, feel free to reach out. I'm open to any team.

Conclusions

Nicolaj Muller has the potential to be one of the greats in the league but it will obviously take him a while to get there. Starting behind in TPE for his draft class isn’t going to help at all, but with enough grit and determination he can hopefully be a great team player and lead his team to a cup.


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