Michael McNiven has had a change of heart.
A year ago, McNiven, who was 27 at the time, opted to hang up his goaltending pads after seven years of playing pro hockey. He accepted an assistant coaching position with Powell River Kings, a Junior A franchise in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL).
But McNiven, whose Métis birth mother was born in Winnipeg, has opted to come out of retirement and start playing again. He’s signed a contract to suit up for Blue Devils Weiden, which competes in Germany’s second highest level of pro hockey in a circuit called DEL2.
McNiven said people shouldn’t be surprised that he has resumed his playing career.
“This was always an option for me,” he said. “If the chance came, I was going to take it.”
Truth be told, McNiven, a once-promising goalie who played just one game in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens during the 2021/2022 season, had not been really keen to retire last year.
He was kind of forced into the situation after he put up some less-than-impressive numbers during the 2023/2024 campaign when he played for three different clubs. That included two minor pro squads in North America’s ECHL (formerly East Coast Hockey League) before finishing off the season with Gap HC, a team in France’s top hockey league.
McNiven’s sub-par play could be attributed to the fact he entered that season coming off knee surgery. He said he had hoped to land with a club in Europe last year, but no offers materialized.
“So, I kind of had an ultimatum with myself,” he said. “It was sit around and wait an amount of time again for a job or get to work. I had a coaching opportunity and a good league in the BCHL. And I thought it was fitting for the time and the situation.”
While on the Kings’ bench this past season, McNiven couldn’t help but have his mind wander to thoughts of playing again.
“At the end of the day, I was retiring at 27 years old,” he said. “I'm still very young and I still have all the energy to do it and I have the mindset to play the game. And I love it.
“I really do miss being with the guys every day. I like working towards a common goal. And I'm just trying to be a better person and a better hockey player day in and day out.”
McNiven will fly to Germany on Friday to join his new club. Team members are scheduled to report for physicals and meetings on August 4.
Like his birth mother, McNiven was born in Winnipeg, but shortly after he was born he moved to Georgetown in Ontario, where he was raised by his paternal grandparents.
During his junior days he played three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, starring with the Owen Sound Attack, before he turned pro.
Although he was a highly-touted prospect, McNiven bounced around to nine different minor pro squads in North America over seven years before briefly trying his luck in France. He’s thrilled to be getting another opportunity to showcase his skills in Germany.
“It will be a good challenge for me,” he said. “I've been skating a lot. I've been training really hard this summer so I'm not really worried on the playing side of things. Now I have seven years of pro under my belt and I have the experience. It's just putting that experience in my game a bit more and focusing on that side of things and I think it will take care of itself.”
His contract is for one year, but the brass of Blue Devils Weiden has not given him any indication of how much he’ll play.
“I'm coming in just to do my job,” he said. “If they give me five games, they give me five games. If I play all 50, then I will play all 50.”
McNiven said he still aspires to make it back to the NHL one day.
“I don't think it's ever out of the cards,” he said. “There's always opportunities. But my goal right now is to play solid at the level I'm at, show everyone I can still play and then, you know, in a year or two or three, maybe that could be part of a conversation.
“For now, I'm just focused on getting back into things and just enjoying the game and having fun with the people that I'm around.”
And then at some point down the line, McNiven said he will return to coaching.
“I understand that side of it now, and it's not as easy as a lot of people may think,” he said. “Even myself, before getting into coaching, I thought it would just be very natural for me just being in the game for so long. It's definitely a little bit of a transition. But the knowledge and the experience that I've built over the years definitely helped me through it.”
This story was made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
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