Photo credit: RocketFAN

By Regan Bartel

Life after playing

Brandon McMillan: Quickly trades skates for whistle

Sep 1, 2025 | 6:00 AM

Brandon McMillan has returned to Prospera Place, not as a player, but as an assistant coach with the Kelowna Rockets. After nearly three decades in the game — from his first strides at age five, through junior glory, the NHL, and a decade in Europe — he has traded skates for the bench and is now focused on guiding the next generation of players.

Off the ice, McMillan’s competitive streak is still burning. Asked if he’ll miss playing, he admitted there’s a shift to process: “I just won’t be in the competition. But I guess you could say I’m still in the fight of the competition, going from one thing of being in it to being a part of it.”

His journey with the Rockets dates back to 2009, when he helped Kelowna capture the WHL championship. That title opened the door to a professional career that included 171 NHL games: 91 with the Anaheim Ducks, 72 with the Arizona Coyotes, and 8 with his hometown Vancouver Canucks.

“Getting to put on a Canucks jersey, being born and raised in Vancouver, was pretty special,” McMillan recalled. “Looking back, I wish I had enjoyed it more in the moment. It was a great run, and as you get older, you learn, learn, learn. I hope I can pass on what took me 10 years to understand at the pro level. If I can give that to these young players now, they can take it and build long careers of their own.”

🎧 Listen to the full interview with Brandon McMillan by pressing play on the audio player below.

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Even after years of hockey, the game never loosened its grip. Last season, McMillan left his wife and kids in Kelowna to play one more year in Germany. “Coaching was always in the back of my mind,” he said. “As you get older as a player, you start asking yourself: what should I do next? Do I want to be a firefighter, do I want to sell houses? You want to figure it all out, but at the end of the day I found it hard to walk away from hockey. I want to be part of it, and that made this decision to coach an easy one.”

A third-round pick of the Ducks, McMillan often lived on the razor’s edge of the NHL. He bounced between the big league, the AHL, and several European leagues. “It is the highest level of hockey, and there is so much competition,” he explained. “Every single day you have to be ready and on the go. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed every minute. But in the NHL, you feel the pressure of someone breathing down your neck every day. Playing in Germany and other European leagues for 10 years, you didn’t have that same feeling.”

Coming back to Kelowna feels like a natural return. “To be back here feels like home. It feels familiar,” McMillan said. “I was lucky enough last year to skate with the team a little bit in the fall, so I already had that familiarity with the players. It has been seamless so far. We had good meetings with the coaching staff before the players came in, which made things flow that much smoother.”

Now he’s translating his years of experience into lessons behind the bench. “It’s always tough when you stop doing something you’ve done for so long and your identity has been tied to being the best player you can be,” he said. “Obviously that was tough and emotional, but what it came down to was timing. It felt right, and sometimes when the opportunity comes, you have to jump at it. The opportunity came here, and as a family we felt like it was time.”

From junior champion to NHLer, European pro, and now mentor, McMillan’s career has come full circle. His story doesn’t close with a final whistle. It continues behind the Rockets bench, where his next challenge is helping tomorrow’s players write their own.