WHL standout Mistelbacher back in Manitoba after trade to Brandon Wheat Kings

Fans of major junior hockey will have a much easier time watching the region’s best player next season, as Luke Mistelbacher will be playing in Brandon.

The Steinbach forward was moved to the Western Hockey League’s Brandon Wheat Kings via a trade from the Swift Current Broncos May 7.

The Broncos received five draft picks and a forward prospect in the deal, with defenseman Grayson Burzynski also moving to Brandon in the deal. Both Mistelbacher and Burzynski are 2005-born players, in their final year of eligibility in major junior.

Mistelbacher has been a mainstay in Swift Current since signing for them as an undrafted player in the 2021/2022 season. in three full-time seasons in the WHL, he’s scored 162 points, breaking out in the last half of the 2023/2024 season. That strong play continued into this year, where he posted career highs in goals (42) and assists (51) for Swift Current.

Mistelbacher said his family is looking forward to attending more games in person this year.

“It’s weird, but it’s exciting, it’s definitely exciting,” Mistelbacher said a few days after the trade.

“It’ll be weird not going back to Swift Current in the fall.”

Brandon head coach and general manager Marty Murray told the Brandon Sun the team was looking to both re-make their overage player line-up and add some scoring punch to the roster as captain Quinn Mantei is set to leave to play college hockey.

“I think you look at teams that go a long way and are playing in the league final right now, they have guys who are point producers and no disrespect to our guys in the last few years, but when your top scorers have 60 or 70 points, it doesn’t get it done,” Murray said.

“We thought we had the ability with Mistelbacher to take it to another level with a guy who could be over 100 points and hopefully (Roger) McQueen is there with him, and those are game changers.”

It was an eventful year for Mistelbacher, re-joining the Broncos after spending the summer at the Winnipeg Jets development camp and playing in a prospect tournament for the NHL team. After finishing the season in the top 10 in WHL scoring and seeing his team eliminated from the play-offs, he signed an amateur try-out contract with the American Hockey League’s Iowa Wild, scoring his first pro goal.

“It was really good, the guys were really good to me and it was a lot of fun,” Mistelbacher said.

“(Scoring) felt really good. It was definitely really cool and it was awesome to get the first one behind me.”

The Wheat Kings expect to contend next season and are adding as many experienced players as possible, including Mistelbacher.

“We owe it to our fanbase to show that we’re serious this year,” Murray told the Brandon Sun.

“We’re a team that wants to make some noise.”

Mistelbacher wants to make his final year in junior a memorable one, aiming for a long post-season run.

“I just really want to be better than I was last year, round out my game a little bit more,” he said.

“I really want to make a push in the playoffs, because I’ve never been a part of a team that’s pushed very far.”

The Wheat Kings finished fifth in the Eastern Conference last season, but were one point away from winning their division.

“Last year (Brandon) were definitely hard to play against,” Mistelbacher said

“They were big and fast. I’m not sure exactly what the team will look like this year, but I’m hoping we can stick to that identity and win some more games.”

Mistelbacher spoke to The Carillon immediately after a session at Sweaty Training in Steinbach. It’s an intense off-season regimen, with at least four workouts per week in addition to on-ice training. Keeping up with training is easy for a player who just loves to get on the ice as much as possible.

“I just love it, it’s just fun for me, that’s how I stay motivated,” Mistelbacher said.

“I just like doing it, it’s just fun.”

When he’s not training, Mistelbacher can be found at the Steinbach Fly-In Golf Club. Like many hockey players, he tries to play as many golf rounds as possible during the summer.

With files from Perry Bergson