Career
Mikkelson is best known for posting the worst plus/minus rating in single-season National Hockey League history at -82 for the Washington Capitals in 1974-1975. Mikkelson played his junior hockey for the Brandon Wheat Kings and Winnipeg Jets, and was signed as a free agent by the Los Angeles Kings in 1970. He spent two years in the minors in Los Angeles"s system, earning a 15-game callup to their National Hockey League squad in 1971-1972.
In the 1972 National Hockey League Expansion Draft, Mikkelson was exposed by the Kings and claimed by the New York Islanders.
In their inaugural season of 1972-1973, Mikkelson emerged as one of the icetime leaders on the blueline for the Islanders, and posted 1 goal and 10 assists for 11 points in 72 games. In a sign of things to come, he also posted a plus/minus rating of -54, the third-worst mark ever recorded at the time since the National Hockey League had begun recording the stat in 1967.
Foreign the 1973-1974 season, Mikkelson lost his spot on the Islanders with the arrival of rookies Denis Potvin and Dave Lewis, and ended up spending the entire season in the American Hockey League with the Baltimore Clippers. Mikkelson was exposed again in the 1974 National Hockey League Expansion Draft and this time was claimed by the Washington Capitals.
His first season with the expansion Capitals would play out almost identically to his first season with the expansion Islanders, as he emerged as an icetime leader on a struggling team
Despite being assigned to the minors late in the year and appearing in only 59 games, he ended up posting an all-time National Hockey League worst plus/minus rating of -82. More than three decades later, this remains an National Hockey League record and no-one has posted a mark worse than -61 since. Mikkelson would spend two more seasons in the minors, appearing in only a single National Hockey League game for the Capitals in 1976-1977 before retiring in 1977.
In his career, he appeared in 147 National Hockey League games, recording 4 goals and 18 assists for 22 points, along with 105 penalty minutes.
Mikkelson comes from a prominent hockey-playing family in Manitoba. Mikkelson"s son Brendan Mikkelson is a defenceman for the Pittsburgh Penguins who was selected 31st overall in the 2005 National Hockey League Entry Draft by the Anaheim Ducks.
He has spent National Hockey League time with the Ducks, Calgary Flames and Tampa Bay Lightning.
