Claimed:Lukas Müller Biography

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Lukas Müller - The Future or Just a Burnout?

Is the 18-year-old center good enough to make it, or is he just a self-centered but talented underachiever that will flop under pressure?

 

 

Background

There are many players in VHL history who are lauded as “underrated” - hard working players who just couldn’t quite become the star that people thought they would, either due to unlucky situations or simply not having the talent that people thought they did.  Retired defenseman Klaus Müller is one of those players.  Müller was drafted 10th overall in the Season 27 draft, and played for Calgary, Vasteras, and Cologne in a 7-season career.  While he was able to reach the peak in Season 30 by winning the Continental Cup with the Wranglers, the German defenseman seemed to only be a solid player and nothing more.  After signing with the Vasteras Iron Eagles in free agency in hopes of establishing himself as a top player in his own right, Müller and Vasteras both had a disappointing S32.  The Iron Eagles would then decide to embark on a rebuild, and Klaus was dealt to the Cologne Express, who were only entering their third year of existence, in exchange for fan-favorite goaltender Rock Star and a third round pick.  Not soon after, Müller announced that the upcoming season would be his last.

The season was a moderately successful one - Müller led the team with 85 points and stayed with the Express despite trade rumors - but what was most notable for the retiring defenseman was what happened off the ice.  Müller’s long-term girlfriend, who he had met during his playing days in Calgary, gave birth to a son, Lukas, near the middle of the season.  After his retirement, Klaus would decide to settle down, marrying Lukas’ mother and deciding to continue living in Cologne for the time being.  After spending the first few years of his marriage focusing on fatherhood, Müller missed the game of hockey.  He felt separated from it.  He tried becoming an agent, temporarily taking over for his former agent, Turd Ferguson, who was trying a comeback to hockey with Eisbären Berlin of the DEL.  While he would continue to work with Ferguson in an advisory role, it just didn’t quite feel the same.  He missed being truly involved in the game.  Luckily for him, at about the same time, young Lukas seemed to be take to hockey almost immediately.  Klaus began to take more and more time to introduce his son to the sport, and Lukas was a natural on the ice.

 

Klaus Müller, Lukas' father, during his playing days with the Cologne Express.

As Lukas’ interest in hockey continued to grow and grow, his father began to worry that there weren’t enough opportunities in Germany for Lukas to further explore his interest in the sport.  Meanwhile, his mother, who’d had to move around the world during the tail end of Klaus’ player career, was missing home.  Once a month, she’d fly back to Calgary to spend time with her family and friends.  And while it was doable, the family was beginning to grow apart.  So when Lukas was only 10 years old, the Müller family decided to pack up and move to Calgary, the city where his mother was from and where his father had spent five years of his career.  

 

A New Country

There was little trouble with a language barrier - Lukas had learned a good amount of English from his mother.  The culture, however, was where he had trouble.  Lukas had only spent short periods of time in Canada during holidays.  In school, he struggled in his classes and was unable to make friends at first.  But with winter came hockey season, and unlike in Germany, where it was not quite as popular as soccer, hockey was easily the top sport in Canada.  As Lukas gradually spent more time playing the sport, he became increasingly comfortable in his new country.  The rink became Lukas’ home, where he felt the most confident.  Over time, that confidence got into the rest of his life.

 

The Müller family's new home.

As Lukas got older, he began to play organized hockey games at a higher level, and scouts began to take notice of his abilities.  It also became clear that he was a different type of player than his father.  While Klaus was a hard-working, jack-of-all-trades defenseman, Lukas was a flashy, skillful center.  The only things that seemed to link the two on the ice were the number 13 on their back and a penchant for passing.  All the same, Lukas was being mentored by his father, and was clearly getting people’s attention at an early age - both in a good way and a bad way.  He was a clearly talented player with a great hockey IQ, someone who was always able to catch the eye and make seemingly perfect plays.  But off the ice, Lukas had a lot of trouble getting along with his teammates.  

“Luke thought he was the best player on the ice at all times,” said one of Müller’s former bantam teammates.  “And a lot of the time, he was right, but he had a lot of trouble respecting his teammates and coaches.  He wanted everyone to follow his lead all the time.  In his mind, he was always right and should always have gotten his way - even if it meant overriding the coaches.”

 

Moving up to Juniors

Lukas' talent would catch the eye of more than a few scouts.

 

Confrontational tendencies aside, Müller was clearly talented - and caught the attention of quite a few junior scouts.  After spending time playing in Calgary, he entered the WHL Bantam Draft and was selected in the first round by the nearby Red Deer Rebels.  With the resources of a CHL team and a father who had experienced a full career as a professional hockey player, Lukas was expected to be the team’s top prospect, as well as a possible future NHL player.  While the team was aware of his more argumentative side, they generally disregarded it with the justification that “boys will be boys”.  

After one last season of playing in bantam, Müller joined the Rebels at the age of 16, making him the youngest player on the team.  He didn’t get much playing time, but made occasional appearances on the team’s fourth line.  Lukas showed positive signs when he did play - getting multiple assists and showing impressive skating and puck handling ability.  Behind the scenes, he didn’t cause any trouble like he had previously, but also didn’t really interact with his teammates at all.  But team management didn’t think much of it, plus he was showing signs that he was consistently getting better.

In his second season, Müller continued to improve.  He showed an incredible ability to get assists as well as impressive skating and puck handling skill.  Early on in the season, Lukas was able to establish himself as a potential star - even impressing the coaching staff enough to get playing time on the third and sometimes second line.  But off-ice issues reared their head again.  Even though he was one of the best-performing players on the team, his coaches had to constantly change his linemates from game to game.  It was rare that Müller would be able to stay with one line for longer than two or so games.  However, near the midpoint of the season, things seemed to be looking up.  Lukas was playing on the second line, and had been with the two wingers on his line for the last ten games.  The team had been very successful over this period of time, and Müller was getting an incredible amount of assists.

 

Attitude issues aside, Müller became one of the Rebels' best players.

However, things changed after a game at home against the Edmonton Oil Kings.  The game was close, resulting in a 5-4 loss, but Müller shined.  He was involved in all four of the Rebels’ goals - getting two assists and, in a rare occurrence, scoring two goals himself.  After the game, the 17-year-old center was absolutely livid.  He began throwing equipment around the locker room and shouting at his linemates.  While it isn’t known what exactly happened next, the general belief is that Müller was angry at his linemates for not getting into good enough positions for him to pass them the puck.  Because his shooting ability is so poor, Müller was insistent on not making any attempts on goal unless he absolutely had to.  Now that he’d scored two goals in one game - a feat he had never once accomplished in his entire playing career - it was clear that this meant he didn’t think his teammates could hold their own.  As a result of this, Lukas got into an argument with one of his linemates that apparently came to blows.  He then stormed out of the locker room before being asked by a reporter how he felt about the game.  Müller only responded with, “I shouldn’t have to shoot this much.  I’m done with this team,” before walking away angrily.

 

Moving On

The next day, the Red Deer Rebels announced that they had released Müller from the team - news that shocked just about anyone who had been watching the Rebels play.  It was only under questioning from the media at a press conference that the team’s GM revealed that his release was due to a “physical altercation”.  Meanwhile, Müller, who had once been known for hisincredibly boisterous personality when talking to the media, was uncharacteristically silent.  Nobody had any idea where he was, or if he'd even play again.  He didn’t speak at all publicly, and rejected any offers for interviews.  It didn't stop the speculation, but he had to rethink his future privately.

 

Müller making his mark with the German U20 team.

Normally, you would expect a player that young to move away from the game of hockey.  But Müller hadn’t given up.  Shockingly, about a year later, he was named to Germany’s roster for the IIHF Division I World Junior Championships - despite the fact that he didn’t even have a team.  It turns out that Müller had turned down multiple approaches from teams in Europe trying to sign him, and had been working quietly with the coaching staff of Germany’s U20 national team.  His pure dedication to getting better and proving people wrong impressed the coaches so much that they named him to the team.  And Müller repaid them in spades.  While Germany’s performance in the tournament wasn’t particularly impressive, as they were only barely able to avoid relegation to IIHF Division I B, Müller stood out.  Despite not scoring any goals, he led the tournament in assists with seven - which meant that he was tied for first in points out of all players in the tournament.  His performance garnered even more attention, but Lukas would soon make one thing clear: he was following in his father’s footsteps and joining the VHL.

Being advised by his father and represented by his father’s former agent, Lukas would end up declaring for the Season 53 VHL draft by joining the VHLM at the Season 51 trade deadline.  He would soon sign with the Bratislava Watchmen with the hopes of honing his skills and establishing himself as one of the VHLM’s top players.  However, it is unknown as to how much of a role his attitude will play in his minor league performance, as well as whether or not he’ll be able to adjust to a new league with a new style of play.

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Review:

Lots of work put into this bio! Nice to see another cocky player haha. Only making a few appearances as a 16 year old in the WHL? Psh! I'm leading my team in scoring on NHL 17 as a 16 year old! Glad to see Müller getting off his feet after a rough WHL career though, and shining in the German U20 team! Can't wait to see him in the pros!

 

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