LW Luke Mistelbacher - Swift Current Broncos, WHL (2024 Draft)

[Artorius Horus T]

Know nothing about him, but noticed he scored a hatty and has 3+3=6 in 3 play-offs games so far
- plays in his draft season

23-24 reg : 20+33=53 / +21 / 155 sog

6 foot 0 / 195 lbs
18 years old from Steinbach, MB

He was Broncos 5th round pick

Click to read more...

 

[hockeykid87]

He was actually undrafted by Swift. Signed out of training camp in 2021. He's a pretty interesting case. Last season I don't think he was very driven to get better. Up and down the lineup, mostly down. Even this year, you look at his start and he had two goals and five assists in the first 20 games of the season.

Then all the sudden he got scorching hot from mid-February onward. I think they put him with Geekie around that time and I guess they've got some serious chemistry. In the last 16 games of the regular season he had 11 goals and 15 assists.

Sometimes all it takes is for kids to truly realize how good they can be. Then they start to understand that if they put the work in, they can be successful. Mistelbacher might be one of those guys.

 

[Hinterland]

Know nothing about him, but noticed he scored a hatty and has 3+3=6 in 3 play-offs games so far
- plays in his draft season

23-24 reg : 20+33=53 / +21 / 155 sog

6 foot 0 / 195 lbs
18 years old from Steinbach, MB

He was Broncos 5th round pick

You can pretty much disregard the hattrick of last night which was only made possible by a blinking irritating Meneghin "performance". Easily the CHL's best goalie this season and normally extremely solid and reliable, short memory, never showing emotions. Last night he had negative body language from the get go, just kept on complaining and waving, seemed completely unable to track the puck. I have no explanation for this and have never seen anything like this from him but Bill Peters would never pull Meneghin from a playoff game if it wasn't absolutely necessary. Something must be wrong with him.

Still, I don't wanna take away anything from Mistelbacher. One of the top players of his team this season whenever I watched him. Not the most skilled player but has a good shot and is playing the right way, both with and against the puck. Very mature and reliable for his age. Righty with decent size. I don't know if he's gonna get drafted but since he's trending nicely this season he probably should.

 

[Hinterland]

Added another playoff goal today.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

@Bubbles @landy92mack29 @MS

Why haven’t we heard about him yet? Is he as good as the stats indicate? Good stats, not a re-draft guy, and wasn’t drafted into the WHL.

Is he getting slept on?

 

[Hinterland]

@Bubbles @landy92mack29 @MS

Why haven’t we heard about him yet? Is he as good as the stats indicate? Good stats, not a re-draft guy, and wasn’t drafted into the WHL.

Is he getting slept on?

He's very good...in his own way. If I had to guess I'd say he's just too boring to get enough recognition. He doesn't have any elite tools, he's 0% flashy, he doesn't fight, doesn't even agitate. He's just your average hard working dude with a high hockey IQ and a good shot.

He's a covid victim as well. I think covid made it tougher for CHL teams to scout the kids because lots of leagues were shut down. The less of a spotlight you get the tougher it is to be seen, especially as a kid without elite tools who can't just wow scouts with crazy moves. Mistelbacher also talked in interviews about how covid cost him important development time and he feels like he's still catching up.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

He's very good...in his own way. If I had to guess I'd say he's just too boring to get enough recognition. He doesn't have any elite tools, he's 0% flashy, he doesn't fight, doesn't even agitate. He's just your average hard working dude with a high hockey IQ and a good shot.

He's a covid victim as well. I think covid made it tougher for CHL teams to scout the kids because lots of leagues were shut down. The less of a spotlight you get the tougher it is to be seen, especially as a kid without elite tools who can't just wow scouts with crazy moves. Mistelbacher also talked in interviews about how covid cost him important development time and he feels like he's still catching up.

Where do you think he'll get drafted?

 

[Hinterland]

Where do you think he'll get drafted?

I don't know if he's gonna get drafted at all, to be honest. Probably yes but in the later rounds. He may need a few more good playoff performances though. He said he felt like he wasn't on the NHL teams radar for most of the season and interest only picked up in recent weeks. Which is not a good sign. Every other European prospect does get scouted extensively all season long, has to do countless interviews etc.

 

[Bubbles]

@Bubbles @landy92mack29 @MS

Why haven’t we heard about him yet? Is he as good as the stats indicate? Good stats, not a re-draft guy, and wasn’t drafted into the WHL.

Is he getting slept on?

Late '05. Honestly, I wasn't watching much Broncos games for a lack of prospects other than him. He's having a red hot start to the playoffs which might get him drafted in the very low rounds.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Was checking Swift Current's playoff numbers to see how Josh Filmon was doing and noticed Mistelbacher.

How much of his big season is due to the team's dominance and how does his game translate to higher levels? Even Filmon was chosen in the later rounds.

 

[Hinterland]

Was checking Swift Current's playoff numbers to see how Josh Filmon was doing and noticed Mistelbacher.

How much of his big season is due to the team's dominance and how does his game translate to higher levels? Even Filmon was chosen in the later rounds.

Filmon is actually a pretty good comparison. Both are high IQ goal scorers, both are good skaters, very efficient against the puck but aren't really creative, don't have a high end skillset.

The problem with Filmon was that he was too slight for the powerforward style he wants to play. To a certain degree that is still the case and I do think that he does struggle both to add weight and with the already added weight. He used to be far too easy to knock off pucks and that's no longer the case but he still doesn't have the frame to play the way he wants to play. At WHL level it's starting to come but he may be struggling playing against men.

Mistelbacher is much thicker, tougher to knock off pucks but he doesn't seem to be into hitting quite as much as Filmon. He's also not as tall as Filmon so I'd say that there's less powerforward potential in Mistelbacher compared to Filmon. Filmon is also a way more dominant player right now but that's not surprising since he's older as well.

I think Mistelbacher's game could translate well to the NHL level but much like Filmon I think that if he does make it there, I see him as more of a role player than high end scorer.

Playing on a good team has helped both of these guys but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. They prove they can be effective and put pucks in the net if given the opportunity to play with good players. I think since they're not overly creative themselves they actually kinda need good teammates to set them up in order to score the way they're currently doing. I think they could be effective in different roles as well but demonstrating the ability to play with good players is a plus because of course, in the NHL players are more skilled than in the WHL.