Jeff MacMillan (born March 30, 1979) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

player. At the height of his career he briefly played for the

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and were founde ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

Career

MacMillan began his career in 1996, icing for the junior team the

Oshawa Generals The Oshawa Generals are a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League. They are based in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The team is named for General Motors, an early sponsor which has its Canadian headquarters in Oshawa. In November 2016, ...

in the

OHL OHL or Ohl may refer to: Initialisms *Latvian Hockey Higher League, known in Latvian as the ''Optibet hokeja līga'' *Oberste Heeresleitung, the Supreme Army Command of Germany in World War I *Obrascón Huarte Lain, a Spanish construction company * ...

. MacMillan stayed with the Generals for three years, making almost 170 appearances in that time. His solid defensive play combined with a reasonable offensive output for a defenceman meant that in the 1999

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

entry draft, MacMillan was drafted in the seventh round by the

. MacMillan was sent to play for the

Fort Wayne Komets The Fort Wayne Komets are a minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This team was previously a member of the Central Hockey League, the original Inter ...

in the UHL, where he played just seven games before being moved to the

Michigan K-Wings Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the l ...

, a Dallas Stars affiliate team playing in the IHL. In the K-Wings' last season as a Stars affiliate, MacMillan featured in 53 games. Due to the Stars ending their association with the K-Wings, MacMillan was then farmed to the

Utah Grizzlies The Utah Grizzlies are a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah. Franchise history The current Utah Grizzlies franchise started in 1981 as the Nashville South Stars ...

again in the IHL. He would stay in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

for the next four seasons, and remained playing for the Grizzlies when they changed league to play at the higher AHL standard. MacMillan was a cornerstone of the Grizzlies team, and featured in over 300 games during his stay there. MacMillan's hard work and natural defensive qualities meant that during the 2003/04 season he also featured for the Dallas Stars themselves, and played four regular season

games. The following season, MacMillan was again relegated back down to the AHL, this time playing for the

Hartford Wolf Pack The Hartford Wolf Pack are a professional ice hockey team based in Hartford, Connecticut. A member of the American Hockey League (AHL), they play their home games at the XL Center. The team was established in 1926 as the Providence Reds. After a ...

. In his one season playing for Hartford he was again a key player, playing 71 times and clocking up 136 penalty minutes. MacMillan would play one more season in the AHL in 2005/06, for the

Syracuse Crunch The Syracuse Crunch are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). They play in Syracuse, New York, at the Upstate Medical University Arena. They are the primary development affiliate of the National Hockey League's Tam ...

. For the 2006/07 season, MacMillan decided to play in Europe and signed for the

Vienna Capitals Vienna Capitals are an Austrian professional ice hockey club that participate in the Erste Bank Hockey League. Founded in 2001, the Capitals play their home games in Vienna, Austria, at Albert Schultz Eishalle. In the 2004–05 season, the Cap ...

in the Austrian national league, but did not stay for the whole season, signing for the Phoenix RoadRunners of the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). Th ...

back in North America, where he also featured in the ECHL playoffs. MacMillan again decided to play in Europe the following year, and in the summer of 2007, along with Capital team-mate

Scott Fankhouser Scott A. Fankhouser (born July 1, 1975) is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played 23 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Atlanta Thrashers between 1999 and 2001. The rest of his career, which lasted from ...

, agreed to sign for the

Manchester Phoenix Manchester Phoenix was a semi professional ice hockey team from Greater Manchester, England. The club was formed in 2003 as a result of the efforts of supporters group ''Friends of Manchester Ice Hockey'' to bring top-level ice hockey back to Ma ...

, a team playing in the

EIHL The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to as the British Elite League or, for sponsorship reasons, the Viaplay Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hocke ...

, the top tier of British club ice hockey, where he was also appointed alternate captain by player/coach

Tony Hand Anthony Hand MBE (born 15 August 1967) is a Scottish former ice hockey player and coach. He was the first British player to be drafted by an NHL team when he was picked by the Edmonton Oilers in 1986. Nicknamed ''Two point Tony'', he holds seve ...

. MacMillan proved to be a solid, physical defender for the Phoenix but struggled to find form, suffering a number of injuries through the season. The Manchester defence was notably unreliable during the 2007/08 season and at the end of the season, head coach Hand made the decision to re-model the entire defence, releasing MacMillan. MacMillan and Fankhouser would again choose to sign for the same club, agreeing to play for the

Bloomington Prairie Thunder The Bloomington PrairieThunder were a minor professional ice hockey team based in Bloomington, Illinois. They were a member of the Central Hockey League in the Turner Conference. The team was originally a member of the United Hockey League (later ...

of the

United Hockey League The United Hockey League (UHL), originally known as the Colonial Hockey League from 1991 to 1997 and last known as the International Hockey League from 2007 to 2010, was a low-level minor league, minor professional ice hockey league, with teams ...

, an announcement made in July 2008. Since his professional days, MacMillan has split his time between the

Durham Thundercats The Durham Thundercats, originally the Durham 72's, are a senior hockey team based out of Durham, Ontario, Canada. The Thundercats date back to the town's Centennial, 1972, and have been an extremely successful team in all loops of the Western On ...

of the

WOAA Senior AA Hockey League The WOAA Senior AA Hockey League is a Canadian senior ice hockey league governed by the Western Ontario Athletic Association. The league operates in Southwestern Ontario. History Format The league uses Hockey Canada playing rules but is not op ...

and the

Dundas Real McCoys The Dundas Real McCoys are a Canadian senior ice hockey team based in Dundas, Ontario. They play in the Ontario Hockey Association's Major League Hockey. The Real McCoys have won two National Championships, winning the 1986 Hardy Cup as Canadia ...

Allan Cup Hockey Allan Cup Hockey (ACH), formerly Major League Hockey until 2011, is the top tier Canadian senior ice hockey league in the province of Ontario. Founded in 1990, as the Southwestern Senior "A" Hockey League, the ACH is a member of the Ontario Hoc ...

. He won the

Allan Cup The Allan Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the national senior amateur men's ice hockey champions of Canada. It was donated by Sir Montagu Allan of Ravenscrag, Montreal, and has been competed for since 1909. The current champions are th ...

with Real McCoys in 2014.

Career statistics

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Macmillan, Jeff 1979 births Bloomington PrairieThunder players Canadian ice hockey defencemen Dallas Stars draft picks Dallas Stars players Fort Wayne Komets players Hartford Wolf Pack players Kalamazoo Wings (1974–2000) players Living people Manchester Phoenix players Oshawa Generals players Phoenix RoadRunners players Syracuse Crunch players Utah Grizzlies (AHL) players Utah Grizzlies (IHL) players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in England Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States