Moose Tracks: Logan MacMillan
-Dennis Leary for www.halifaxmooseheads.ca
At the QMJHL Draft in 2005, the Halifax Mooseheads used their second pick (34th overall) to select Logan MacMillan. MacMillan made the team as a 16-year- old and went on to play three and half seasons with the Mooseheads before being traded to Rimouski. During his draft year with the Mooseheads, MacMillan’s physical play, 55 regular season points (20 goals, 35 assists) and his impressive playoff numbers (9 goals, 11 assists for 20 points in 12 games) with Jacob Voracek and Colby Pridham during the team’s two rounds of playoff action got him noticed by NHL scouts.
Brian Burke then General Manager of the Anaheim Ducks selected MacMillan in the first round (19th Overall) of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.
During MacMillan’s next season (2007-08) in Halifax the Mooseheads finished on top of the Eastern Division with a 42-23-0-5 record. After dispatching Victoriaville and Cape Breton in the first two rounds of the playoffs MacMillan and his teammates ran into an unstoppable Gatineau team lead by Claude Giroux who scored an astounding 51 points (17 goals , 34 assists) in the 19 playoff games it took the Olympiques to win the President’s Cup.
After a bad start to the 2008-09 season the Mooseheads became sellers at the trade deadline and traded MacMillan’s during final QMJHL season to the Rimouski Oceanic. After another trip to the semi finals where MacMillan and the Oceanic lost to Drummondville, MacMillan made the jump to the Anaheim Mighty Duck’s ECHL affiliate the Bakersfield Condors.
MacMillan played in 30 games during his first professional hockey season with Bakersfield scoring 6 points (2G, 4A) and registering 20 penalty minutes. In June of 2010, MacMillan was traded for Jason Jaffray from the Anaheim Ducks to the Calgary Flames, where is father Bob MacMillan once played. After the trade Logan began playing parts of three seasons for Calgary’s AHL team, the Abbottsford Heat.
Most recently MacMillan played 7 games during the 2011/2012 season with Heat and the bulk of the year with Calgary’s ECHL affiliate, the Utah Grizzlies. In Utah this season MacMillan scored a professional best 10 goals and added 14 assists in 47 games with the Grizzlies.
Just starting his off season back home in PEI, MacMillan recently did a Q & A with the Mooseheads’ online writer Dennis Leary.
Q: What do remember most about playing junior hockey in Halifax?
A: The atmosphere in the Metro Centre, the fans were always great while I was there.
Q: What was your best personal achievement while playing with the Mooseheads?
A: Being drafted in 2007 by Anaheim
Q: Have you remained friends with any of your former Mooseheads teammates from your time here, is so who?
A: Colby Pridham, Frankie MacDonald, Jake Voracek, Garrett Peters
Q: What was one of the funniest things that happened to you while you were a Moosehead?
A: I did a photo shoot for Bootlegger a clothing store in Halifax, one day we were walking through the mall and there's a six foot poster of myself in the window, my teammates got a good laugh out of that.
Q: Was there a particular teammate or coach in Halifax that you would say influenced your career a lot?
A: Al MacAdam, He was my coach at during my first year in the league when I was 16, and I learned a lot from him that first year.
Q: What do you miss most about Halifax?
A: The city in general, it is was an exciting place to play junior hockey for 3 1/2 years
Q: What advice would you give young hockey players who want to someday play professional hockey?
A: Keep working hard and make the right decisions away from the rink
Q: What are some of your highlights of playing hockey in the ECHL and AHL?
A: Being in the locker room when a guy gets called up to the NHL
Q: What are hockey fans like in Utah compared to the Nova Scotia?
A: They're a little different, I think in Nova Scotia they have a little better understanding of the game, both were great to play in front of though.
Q: What challenges have you faced since becoming a professional hockey player in 2009? A: The same as any level, injuries, getting sent down, called up, sent down, just battling to keep your spot.
Q: What are your off season plans?
A: I'll get back into the gym shortly, some fishing in my spare time maybe a few trips
Q: What is a typical off season training schedule like for a professional hockey player?
A: Everyone’s different, usually a few hours in the gym five days a week and then maybe some yoga or spin classes added on towards the 2nd half of the summer along with skating a few times a week.
His father Bob MacMillan played part of his 13 year NHL career with the Flames (three in Atlanta and two in Calgary after the team relocated) Bob MacMillan’s sportsmanlike play won him the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy during his best season as a professional (1978-79) when he scored 108 points (37 goals, 71 assists) as member of the Atlanta Flames. Bob racked up an impressive 596 points (236 goals, 360 assists) in 784 games over his 13 NHL seasons with six different teams.
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