Mike Muller (born September 18, 1971) is an American

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

coach and a retired

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

. , he is the head coach of the Minnesota Loons junior hockey team in the

North American 3 Hockey League The North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) is an American Junior ice hockey#Tier III, Tier III junior ice hockey league that consists of teams from Connecticut, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, M ...

Playing career

United States

He was drafted in the 2nd round of the

1990 NHL Entry Draft The 1990 NHL Entry Draft was the 28th NHL Entry Draft. It was hosted by the Vancouver Canucks at BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, on June 16, 1990. It is remembered as one of the deeper drafts in NHL history, with fourteen of the twenty- ...

by the

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, pl ...

out of

Wayzata High School Wayzata High School is a comprehensive public high school in Plymouth, Minnesota, United States, a suburb of Minneapolis. The high school, operated by Wayzata Public Schools, had about 3669 students in grades 9 to 12 as of 2021-22, making it Min ...

in Plymouth, Minnesota and played for the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

between 1990 und 1992.

Russia

Muller started his professional career in the 1992–93 season playing eleven games for

HC Moscow Dynamo HC Dynamo Moscow () is a Russian professional ice hockey club based in Moscow. It is a member of the Tarasov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League. Dynamo has won the Gagarin Cup twice, in 2011–12 KHL season, 2011–12 and 2012–13 KHL ...

of the Russian International Hockey League. He was the first foreign hockey player in the Russian International Hockey League, in which he was a member of the championship team in the 1992–93 season.

Germany

Until 1997, he played in the AHL, IHL and ECHL, before moving to Germany. Muller represented several second- and third-division teams from Germany, including

EHC Neuwied EHC Neuwied is a professional ice hockey team in Neuwied, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most po ...

, Iserlohner EC, Bietigheim Steelers,

Moskitos Essen The Essen Mosquitoes are a professional ice hockey team from Essen, Germany that competed in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) from 1999–2000 until the 2001–02 when they lost their license due to insolvency. After this the team played in t ...

EV Ravensburg The Ravensburg Towerstars, also known as EV Ravensburg, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ravensburg, Germany, and one of the oldest clubs in the country. They currently play in DEL2, the second level of ice hockey in Germany. Prior to ...

and EHF Passau Black Hawks. He retired from playing after the 2009–10 season.

Coaching career

In his early coaching career, Muller worked at the youth level, coaching the under-20 squad of Italian club HC Eppan in 2011–12. He then returned to Ravensburg, where he had spent three years as a player, taking over as youth coach while also serving as assistant on the club's men's team in the second German division. Prior to the 2015–16 season, Muller was appointed head coach of

ESV Kaufbeuren ESV Kaufbeuren (ESVK) is a professional ice hockey team based in Kaufbeuren, Germany. They currently play in DEL2 DEL2 (also known as DEL II) is the second tier ice hockey league in Germany, below the '' Deutsche Eishockey Liga'' (DEL) and ah ...

, a member of Germany's second-tier DEL2. In December 2015, he signed a contract extension through the 2016–17 season. On February 16, 2016, Muller was fired by

after a series of two wins and 13 losses since the beginning of the new year. In March 2019, Muller was announced as the head coach of the

Breezy Point North Stars The Minnesota Loons are a USA Hockey-sanctioned Tier III Junior ice hockey team playing in the North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL). The team plays their home games at Breezy Point Ice Arena in Breezy Point, Minnesota. The organization was orig ...

of the

(NA3HL). The team ceased operations after his first season. When the franchise was re-activated as the Minnesota Loons in 2021, he was brought back as head coach.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Mike Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey players HC Dynamo Moscow players Moncton Hawks players Springfield Falcons players Minnesota Moose players Grand Rapids Griffins (IHL) players Mississippi Sea Wolves players Baton Rouge Kingfish players Rockford IceHogs (UHL) players Essen Mosquitoes players EHF Passau Black Hawks players Ravensburg Towerstars players SC Bietigheim-Bissingen players EHC Neuwied players Iserlohn Roosters players Winnipeg Jets (1979–1996) draft picks Ice hockey coaches from Minnesota Living people 1971 births Ice hockey coaches American ice hockey coaches American men's ice hockey defensemen Ice hockey players from Minnesota