He was passed over after playing sparingly with his junior team; the season was already truncated by the pandemic, and Milne was further sidelined due to shoulder surgery. In 14 games with the Winnipeg Ice in the Western Hockey League, Milne had six goals and six assists.
“I didn’t really take it personally,” he said. “I knew you can’t really judge a guy off [14] games. So just going into my 19-year-old year, I knew I had to have a good year and we had a great team in Winnipeg, so it was a lot of fun.”
After a deep playoff run, Milne debuted with Iowa in 2022 and has suited up in the American Hockey League ever since. About a year ago he had another shoulder surgery, and Milne was also hurt at training camp. But his performance on the ice hasn’t stalled: When he was recalled by the Wild, Milne left Iowa with four goals and four assists in 10 games.
“Just try to be confident with the puck,” said Milne, whose mom Deryn and dad Jerry are “on alert” in case they need to fly in from the Vancouver suburb of Abbotsford, British Columbia, for Milne’s first game. “Be confident in my game, and it’s led to some success early on. So, I’m happy about it.”
Since this call-up was to give the Wild insurance on their trip, the Wild chose to leave Liam Ohgren with Iowa because they didn’t want to disrupt the rookie’s rhythm since going to the minors last week.
