The Michael Misa Fan Club (Those who have been endeared)
My best explanation of the MM77 Extended Universe which is in no way a complete guide or exactly helpful in any way.
Sam Dickinson
Samisa! This is definitely not a primer to their relationship, or to any of Misa’s relationships with the following people, but I will do my best to give them an introduction and explanation of their dynamic. Sam and Misa have this little red string that’s been curled around them forever. They’ve played against each other on almost every team they’ve ever been a part of, most famously being Dickie’s London Knights and Misa’s Saginaw Spirit in the OHL. Sam was coincidentally on the ice when Misa broke his tibia his first season with the Spirit, he’s there, lingering, and covering the camera where Misa is writhing around in pain. Even when he shuffles away to the Knights, he’s looking back to see Misa, a guy at this point he’s only sort of friends with. In the famous Samisa Never Offside Podcast, Sam and Misa talked about how they knew each other since they were little kids and became friends around 14/15 (which would have been when Misa was granted exceptional status for the OHL), bonding slightly over the fact they had the same agent. This is also where Misa’s “I like Dick” quote comes from, saying that he didn’t like anyone on the London Knights but Sam. The quote is definitely funny but the meaning behind it is one Misa has kept up, he likes Sam, Sam is good to him, he likes him. More on the Samisa dynamic from the podcast here.
By all means, Sam and Misa were supposed to have that classic hate-filled rivalry but they just couldn’t seem to manage that. On the ice, people would be chirping each other and Sam and Misa would just skate by and laugh. Perhaps similarly to the tibia incident, Misa was also present for one of the lowest moments of Sam’s hockey career at the time, losing the Memorial Cup in 2024. The London Knights originally knocked the Spirit out of the running but because they were the host team, they already had an automatic bid in. The Spirit ended up making it to the finals against the Knights where they won by one, a heartbreak defeat. Dickie was crushed and he still seems vaguely sour over it on the podcast, but the friendship prevails!
At the sharks Samisa get even closer, and continue to make crazy heart eyes at each other that I would be remiss to not include. They bicker FREQUENTLY, and despite it all, Sam seems to soften the chirps and abrasive attitude when it comes to Misa. I am only being vaguely less objective when I say that Sam knows that Misa can’t chirp, and that he’s a little too genuine, and that he doesn’t always know when he’s being chirped, so Sam stays right at Misa’s level with it. At his core, Sam is an entertainer and it’s no fun if your audience isn’t enjoying themselves when you start running your bits, so in this case, Sam softens and yet he also has full reign to do what he wants because Misa will laugh anyways, even if he’s being bullied. Misa likes the pushing around, and he likes having Sam around in general because according to Cat Toffoli, Sam basically lives with them. And if you want to listen to Toff, and his vague fatherly vendetta against Sam, the Samisa bullying is constant and annoying, but when it comes down to it, Sam is also the one taking care of Misa (if we can ignore the weird incesteous Sam/Toff/Misa of this clip that Toff is trying to spin… more on that later). The care and authority Sam takes on for Misa is actually always lingering, it’s Misa looking to Sam to know how a hotel phone works because “You’re a smart guy”, it’s Sam setting the alarms for them, it’s Sam getting them places on time, it’s Misa looking to Sam to answer before him or for him. Misa has full faith in him and expects that Sam will know, Sam will figure it out, Sam has it under control for me. THIS is critical to their dynamic.
Even in the early Shark days, Sam takes it upon himself to make sure Misa is taken care of. When asked about his own housing accommodations (which ended with him living by himself), he said it was important for Misa to stay with the Toffolis, have the billet experience, because he was the younger one. Although, I suppose you could also take this in a begrudging way, Sam letting Misa have it not out of the good of his heart but out of obligation. And yet when that rolled back around it was Misa who invited Sam over to eat “family dinner” at the Toffolis because he didn’t want him to be lonely.
Igor Chernyshov
There is already a beautiful actual primer by @MelonKai that I will not even attempt to replicate, go read it! But I am obligated to mention that Cherny and Misa played on the Saginaw Spirit together briefly back in 2024-2025 when Cherny came through the CHL import draft. And of course, now they play on the Sharks together! On the Spirit they had trouble communicating due to the language barrier but from interview clips that seems to be less of a problem now. Nowadays, you can find Cherny trailing his hand down Misa’s whole body, or Misa petting an angry Cherny, or them just being giggly on the bench while Toff stares out into space.
Zayne Parekh
Parekh and Misa played together back in Saginaw under the Saginaw Spirit from 2022-2025, although Parekh is almost exactly a year older than Misa and went ninth in the 2024 NHL draft to the Calgary Flames. He still plays for them alongside Michael’s older brother, Luke Misa. Michael and Zayne have actually played on multiple teams together growing up, including on Team Canada for World Juniors 2026, and the Hlikna Gretzky Cup 2023 team (w/ Dickinson and Spence) where they won gold! The two of them are pretty close, having their own uh… intimate pre-game rituals which for some reason include Misa holding his stick out for Zayne to either jerk, or lick; No, I am not joking. Honestly, the narratives aren’t crazy here but they’re just very clearly good friends and have been for awhile. They feature each other semi heavily on their instagrams, and Zayne seems to like to comment a lot lmao.
Even on different teams now, they’re still friends! In my own opinion, Zayne Parekh might be too cool for Misa but that’s okay, and it only helps to serve the unfortunately endeared narrative I’m trying to spin here. They’re #parisa to me, if anyone cares.
Malcolm Spence
Currently, Spence plays for UMich but he was drafted 43rd overall by the New York Rangers in 2025 (same draft class as Misa). Previously, Spence and Misa played on the Mississauga Senators youth hockey team together, and since they were little kids. They played on different teams in the OHL, and were drafted back to back in 2022 (Misa with exceptional status, Spence was 16 at the time), but remained close friends. They played on the same team again for the Hlinka Gretzky Cup alongside Parekh and Dickinson. There’s probably something to be said about a clip from the Canada Finland game where Misa gets put in a headlock and Spence is the first on the scene while Dickie crosses half the rink to put the offending Finland player in his own headlock… Interesting narratives there. The day one vs the inevitable NHL teammate you have a long red string of fate with…
And although I’m not sure the context behind it, Spence and Misa were roommates at some point? Spence specifically refers to Misa as his roommate during the NHL Combine when he leaks that Misa wants to go to the Sharks, and there’s some vague instagram comments I stumbled upon about it, so probably road roommates for when they played together as well as the combine!
Collin Graf
Quiet guys who stick together are quiet guys who stay together, I don’t know. Both Graf and Misa are more soft spoken/reserved/introverted guys on the Sharks and perhaps for that reason they’ve gotten close. This is a cutieful introduction to their relationship that I fully endorse. They stick together and linger around with their occasional chats and mostly blank staring, which I’m a big fan of. I’m not exactly sure what Drew means when he says they sit together, but we can infer that it’s a common occurrence for them to be next to one another, on the bench, in the locker room, on picture day, on the bus, etc, etc. In a locker room and team full of big personalities, I can imagine it’s nice to find someone who can go your speed whenever you want, not everyone needs to be jumping off the walls. Funny enough, it seems like Misa gets more talkative when Graf is around, starting up his own conversations instead of waiting for someone else to. And of course, shout out to Misa saying “Because he’s a smart guy!” about Graf being a good possible emergency ref, he really is the sincerest guy around.
William Eklund
I don’t have that much for this one but it’s still important for me to note. In an interview clip, Ekky mentions that he sees Misa as a little brother to him. Honestly he has some pretty thoughtful commentary on it that is very sweet, he wants to be there for him and apparently they hang out a lot. William Eklund, you too are endeared by Michael Misa, welcome to the club. Most of Ekky’s mic’d up game is just him yelling at Misa who says zero words back which is nice, like real siblings lmao. You can tell Ekky does take the “under my wing” roll very seriously with Misa, as they’re looking at the IPad on the bench or he’s straight up hollering at Misa on the ice.
Tyler & Cat Toffoli
Billet parents of all time. Originally I wasn't going to put them on here because I thought it was self explanatory but it would feel too much like a major oversight on my part. While Toff does think Misa needs to grow up a little and not be so messy, he’s also the same guy who’s volunteering himself to get in between the Samisa bullying, and to take care of Misa in general. He’s the ultimate fond exasperated father figure that I also have to unfortunately mention said one weird incest-lite comment about Sam and him being Misa’s fathers. I’ll leave that to the masses to digest. Every photo that Cat posts of Toff and Misa are of the ducking following his mama variety, ex. them not watching TV together, them walking into games, them going to football games, them in the car, etc. This little parental dynamic goes as far as Toff literally referring to Misa as his and Cat’s child when Misa blabbed about what was supposed to be a surprise get together for Toff after a game. They also had matching family halloween costumes so that's cute!
On Cat specifics for this, she just seems to be very sweet on Misa in general, saying things like he’s a nice kid. Similar to Dickie where he softens around Misa, Cat is also quick to reassure Misa (although she does the same for everyone else too, cool lady indeed), my primary example of this being when Misa gets vaguely insecure about being loud and both Cat and Sam jump to say it’s not a bad thing. And of course there is the famous (to me) moment where Cat upon returning home goes to greet Stella, her dog, by saying “Hi, baby!” in a puppy voice and Misa completely responds with “Hey.” That guy is her baby too, I guess.
Possible Nick Lardis
To me, even Nick Lardis gets a mention for the #OakvilleBoys of it all. They’ve never played together and I’m not sure if Lardis is more of a Luke Misa friend than a Michael Misa friend but he’s around nonetheless. They were training and doing lame instagram ads together this offseason so there’s that. He is also supposed to be a part of the Vancouver Macklin Celebrini training camp this summer which as of the time of posting this hasn’t happened yet. Perhaps more is to be revealed about Nick Lardis and the Misas, or he’ll be found dead on the Grouse Grind trail after having to deal with Willmack and Samisa for two weeks. Time will tell!
Honorable Mentions:
The general Ontario hockey boys friend group, specifically, Spence, Misa, Parekh and some other guys like Nic Sima. Yadda, yadda, Canada boys stick together, a lot of them played for the Spirit, or the Senators in minors, blah, blah, they take summer lake trips, okay, whatever.
This one specific comment on Misa’s instagram from Porter Martone which I accidentally walked in on…
They were teammates on Canada’s Red team for World U-17 and well, I guess they connected lmao. I shall reserve any judgement because they were like 15/16 at the time but it’s funny to put in here anyways. Hockey guy instagram comments will always be famous to me!
Honestly I could have put any of the Sharks here (even including Will Smith Hockey and the mostly joking WillMisa blood feud) and it would have worked but I digress. Macklin can get an honorable mention though because the little back pats I’m always seeing are cute.
Here's a video of Michael and Porter interacting. I've also heard interviews about them being friends but the ones I'm thinking of are actually from Luke. Funnily enough Porter has been Luke's teammate a few times yet as far as I can tell is only considered Michael's friend.
some samisa bits ive been ruminating on as i finish my fic
sam enjoys taking on the loud/charming persona bc hes comfortable playing with the tension. hes done it before he will do it again. he’s convinced he’s above the implications/undercurrent. To sam, the bit is his way of being intimate with misa while maintaining total plausible deniability. he isn't afraid of the tension being redirected because he is the one steering the ship; he assumes he has total control over the joke. in the NO pod, the few times Sam looks kind of unmoored is when mike directs it back at him, he's not used to it from mike and its also not what he *wants* out of his banter w mike.
sam likely views himself as the mature or grounded one (despite being the goofier one, walk w me), even when he’s being loud. he feels a sense of ownership over Mike’s performance even (not really but this is fun; how does this manifest, how did it come to be? rpf away). when he teases mike, he’s not trying to win, he’s trying to provoke a reaction or a "tell". i think he's aware of the different expectations for each of them, and his way of coping w that inequality is by inviting mike to be more like him. for better or for worse, you decide haha
+ sam seems unsatisfied with mike’s reactions. sam is looking for a specific kind of response/spark/feedback. If mike stays stoic or unflappable, sam likely feels he’s failing in his role. he pushes harder because he equates Mike’s lack of reaction with Mike being in his head. sam views himself as mike's handler in some ways. which is a pretttyyyy massive thing to take on.
sam + misa also have sort of admitted to being "not close" but also "longtime friends" (wrt sag/london) so we get this really interesting reinterpretation of past interactions and relationships through a more present understanding of themselves. sort of realizing oh, this guy is kind of the furniture of my life, huh, especially both being pieces of a particular time in a new context, really realizing/feeling all that they have in common more deeply. going to a party and clinging to the one person you know.
sam dickinson, you were meant to be a real estate agent. talking to people all day everyday, winning them over with your charm, and fully convincing them to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a lifelong commitment. that was your calling!!! past customers would be referring their friends to you constantly. you’d make a killing off of commissions, king…
and michael misa would be a tricky client who can’t quite articulate what he wants in a living situation, but he knows what feels wrong and he’s already gone through two other agents before sam. somehow sam just understands what misa wants before misa can even figure it out and picks out the perfect place (and slips misa his personal number instead of his business card when he hands over the final paperwork)
Okay, so their story starts in Saginaw, Michigan. Over the summer of 2024, Igor Chernyshov gets drafted to the San Jose Sharks and taken by the Saginaw Spirit in the CHL Import Draft. He might’ve tampered his way to Saginaw because his agency Gold Star has a pretty strong connection with that OHL team but this is all speculation. However, he gets shoulder surgery that summer and spends the fall and most of the winter recovering from it, so he doesn’t start playing with Saginaw until early 2025. (He was spending time with the team during rehab tho iirc)
Now, during the 24-25 season Michael Misa was in the midst of having an INCREDIBLE draft year with the Spirit. He ends up tying Patrick Kane for most goals by an OHL draft eligible (62) and leads the league in scoring (134). However, he was just snubbed from the 2025 WJC team for Canada and had just been named captain of the Saginaw Spirit, so there was a lot of pressure on him. In January, NHL Central Scouting had him third for North American skaters, and until that point, he wasn’t considered to have fully met the expectations that came from his exceptional status. His draft year was his breakout and “prove it” year.
Enter Igor Chernyshov: he plays his first game with the Spirit and on Misa’s line on January 30th, and they score mere seconds into their shift. At this point, Igor barely speaks English and is relying on Spirit teammate Dima Zhilkin to translate for him, but his chemistry with Misa is undeniable. The Chernyshov-Misa-Epperson line along with Zayne Parekh on the blue line absolutely terrorize the OHL for the 20 something games they play together. (Here is a thread for every goal Igor and Michael both registered points on while on the Saginaw Spirit) This raises Misa’s draft stock and also makes Sharks fans warm up to him due to their chemistry.
During the predraft interviews, Misa is practically gushing when asked about Igor. His roommate at the combine Malcom Spence even leaks that Misa is hoping to go to San Jose. This praise of Chernyshov continues in post draft interviews as seen in this compilation I made of Misa being asked about him in interviews.
The Sharks clearly notice their chemistry too, as they’re put on a line together for Prospect Scrimmage in July and Rookie Faceoff in September. During Misa’s conditioning stint with the Barracuda, they were put on the power play together. While they haven’t gotten a ton of NHL opportunities on a line together, they did contribute on two goals during one of the games they were on a line together.
Anyways, here’s various cute moments as a treat for getting to the end of this primer!
1 2 3 4 5 6
Lmk if there were any mistakes or if u have brainworms about them u wanna share.
Since links in the comments don't work for me that might be the case for others too, I'll just add them here instead:
There might be a few videos in there that don't actually have any footage of them and are just talk pieces about them, and I can't guarantee that they include every single video, but I did spend a few hours digging so it should have most :)
Leaving you with a few more baby Misa (and Misa²) pictures, because he was a precious baby :(
samisa cut of the various hockey events mentioned in this article about misa, because dickie was involved in most of them which is fun
there's only the one picture of them actually playing each other in the GHTL that ive seen, and its from when theyre young enough that dickie's still playing forward. he played for the toronto marlboros and misa played for the mississauga senators. dickie talks about the picture/them playing each other here
misa breaks mcdavid's OHL cup scoring record in 2022 and leads the mississauga senators to win it all, which basically forces him to be granted exceptional status. highlights
dickie & the marlboros are regular season GTHL champs, but are knocked out in the OHL cup quarterfinals. he and sennecke are joint winners of the marlboros' buck houle award that year for outstanding performances & leadership
they both attend the 2022 OHL top prospects showcase and play on the same team (and win!)
misa breaks his tibia during a game against the london knights in his first OHL season, you can see dickie in the clip just sort of lurking about while misa writhes in pain lol. screencaps are from this video
here's some assorted pics of them playing each other in the OHL:
misa & dickie win gold together at the 2023 hlinka gretzky cup, dickie wears the A. gold medal game highlights here
the 2024 saginaw/london memorial cup final, which saginaw wins with a last minute goal. completely devastating for the knights, it's the time that misa saw dickie cry (and was happy to air out on never offside.) you can watch the whole thing here
this is not a comprehensive timeline of anything (kept it just to a few things from the original post), but it adds some context to how peripheral they were to each other's pre nhl hockey careers
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