A former Minnesota Wild draft pick is getting another shot in a familiar place.
Michael Milne has signed a one-year contract with the Winnipeg Jets organization, putting the 23-year-old winger back in the Central Division after a season that took him through three organizations and four different teams. For Milne, it’s a fresh start with the club tied to his junior hockey days.
The Wild picked Milne in the third round, 89th overall, of the 2022 NHL Draft after his WHL run with the Winnipeg Ice. He eventually built up a solid AHL body of work with Iowa, skating in 172 career games and putting up 32 goals, 33 assists and 65 points. His best offensive season came in 2024-25, when he scored 15 goals and finished with 26 points.
Minnesota brought him back on a one-year, two-way deal last summer, but that stint ended in December when the Wild traded him to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Boris Katchouk. Milne played 19 games with the Syracuse Crunch before landing in another move ahead of the trade deadline, this time to the Detroit Red Wings organization. He wrapped up the year with the Grand Rapids Griffins and the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL.
Now he’s headed back to Winnipeg, where he once starred in junior hockey. Milne is expected to start the 2026-27 season in the American Hockey League, but the contract gives him another path toward the NHL. If he gets the call, he could end up facing the Wild, the team that drafted and developed him four years earlier.
For Minnesota, Milne is another draft pick who never really got a long-term runway with the organization. For Winnipeg, he’s a low-risk addition with a chance to climb.
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