Hard-working forward brings flexibility to new team

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He calls himself “just a hard-working, two-way forward.”

Keegan McMullen was the last pick in the 2018 Ontario Hockley League Priority Selection when the Peterborough Petes selected him 300th overall.

He proceeded to use that hard-working mentality to earn a spot with the Petes in the fall of 2019 and has

“I knew that if I was going to come in and make the team, I had to give it my all,” McMullen said of being the last pick in the draft. “The coaches had trust in me and I ended up making the team and just kept using that throughout the year as motivation to work even harder.”

McMullen’s rookie season with the Petes saw him join a team that was looking to make a playoff run before COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the remainder of the 2019-20 OHL season.

“My first year, to have that group of guys, we were hoping for a long playoff run, kind of like what it’s like here (in the Sault),” McMullen said. “To learn from guys like Akil Thomas, Nick Robertson, Zach Gallant, the veteran guys in the league that have moved on and are playing pro hockey, I learned a lot from them.”

“It was really good for me,” McMullen said of playing with that group. Just coming in as a first-year guy, you’re not sure what’s going on. To see those guys and how they prepare and learn. You can take things from them and put them into your own game.”

Ahead of the OHL trade deadline, McMullen was dealt by the Petes to the Soo Greyhounds in exchange for a draft pick.

In a bit of an interesting twist, the pick the Petes used to select McMullen in 2018 was acquired from the Greyhounds at the 2018 OHL trade deadline for the rights to import forward Jonne Tammela.

“He works incredibly hard to create chances for himself,” Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis said of McMullen. “He has the flexibility to play centre. We’ll probably see him a lot on the wing, but he’s somebody that can help out with the penalty kill.”

“On a night-to-night basis, he doesn’t take a shift off,” Raftis added. “When you have a lot of skill on your roster, sometimes you need a guy like that on a line to keep the motor going and keep things chugging along the right way because not every night everything is clicking. You need guys like that that can be a disruptor.”

As a 19-year-old, McMullen said his time in the league has allowed him to develop an added confidence on the ice.

“Just confidence to make plays and not be rushed,” McMullen said. “You can slow the game down a bit. Being a bigger guy, I have more size and speed now, so it’s been working really well.”

Joining the Greyhounds isn’t McMullen’s first experience in Northern Ontario.

After being selected by the Petes, McMullen spent the 2018-19 season with the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Timmins Rock.

“It was amazing,” McMullen said of his time in Timmins. “To play at 16 and come in to play junior hockey in the NOJHL, it really got me used to the junior lifestyle and being away from home.”