Moritz Müller could rise to the DEL record player this year and experience the Olympics again at 39. It would be the crowning glory of a great career.
There were a year when the footballers of Werder Bremen were actually Doublesieger and the legendary duo Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski debuted at the European Football Championship for the DFB team. Some will have guessed it: We’re talking about the 2003/2004 season. On December 18, 2003, however, one that it says was still debut before Poldi and Schweini. “He is the heart and soul of German ice hockey.”
We are not talking about NHL superstar Leon Draisaitl, from whom this highly noble quote comes, but from Moritz Müller. Now, in 2025 and 1131 DEL games later, the captain of the Cologne Haie and the DEB selection goes to his 23rd professional season at one and the same club.
“The tingling has never gone away for me. If you think about it, it doesn’t feel like 23 years old. It went over much faster,” said Müller in the Sportschau interview.
Müller could Del record player become
He has long since reached legend status in the cathedral city – it is in second place in the DEL record players. With 1197 games with Mirko Lüdemann there is only another KEC club legend. The 38-year-old Müller could intercept his comrades this season.
He would have to play 66 games for this. For this, the KEC would have to play a season similar to last year. Should Cologne come back to the DEL final and, including the pre-playoffs, have to play all possible games, 76 games would be added-provided Müller does not miss a game.
Decision against the end of the career in summer
It was still unclear in summer whether the captain was getting this opportunity: Müller was already wasting some thoughts about a possible end of career. “I had asked me to think about it, we discussed the home. I enjoyed the season a lot of fun. Nevertheless, it was a team decision with the family,” said the KEC captain. The record did not play a role. “I like to leave the lude,” said Müller.
The KEC fans are certainly happy to hear the decision to continue. Speaking of fun: the spectators in the cathedral city had it relatively often last season. Cologne became runner-up, only lost the series relatively clearly against the Eisbären Berlin in the DEL final. The team from the capital will be traded as a top favorite again this year, eight out of 14 coaches rely on the polar bears as a master in a survey.
Sharks again on the title
There are a number of clubs, such as Munich or Cologne, who want to beat the supposedly overwhelming Berliners. Niklas Sundblad, coach of the Dresden climber, even sees the sharks as a favorite: “I see it at the front because they have a very strong defense.” This defensive series also includes Müller.
The defender lives and loves his sport. In ice hockey, crazy city of Cologne, which set up a European audience record twice in a row, protrudes Müller with passion and commitment. “Ice hockey is a really great sport, not only live, but also to watch. I can only recommend everyone to try it out,” he advertises “his” sport.
Müller: “With 39 to the Olympics, great performance would be”
Müller is not only considered a legend with the sharks with which he became runner -up three times. He is one of the best -known representatives of his sport in Germany, and the selection of the German Ice Hockey Association also leads to the ice as a captain. In 2018 he won the Silver at Olympia, 2023 the same medal at the World Cup. In the same year he was elected athlete of the year in NRW.
When Müller talks about his season goals, you can still hear ambition, of course about the Cologne sharks and a good season. But also for the big goal of the Olympics with the DEB team: “If I go to the Olympics again with 39, that would be a great achievement.” The captain believes in a difficult tournament in February 2026: “The first time all NHL stars are really at the start. That was not always the case at the last tournaments. You have to say that when nations get their top people like Canada, the USA or Sweden, they are the measure of things.”
Draisaitl and Müller nobility
But Müller does not see Germany without a chance. Some NHL stars are now also Germans, he refers to NHL top scorer Draisaitl or Nico Sturm, who won the Stanley Cup for the second time. The Cologne Müller is primarily looking forward to the interaction with the best pass player for him worldwide, Leon Draisaitl. “It doesn’t happen so often, he plays over there and I here,” says Müller.
He enclosed his friend Draisaitl as a down -to -earth guy who takes care of his friends and yet as “greatest German athletes at the moment” for him. He almost embarrassed: “Leon’s appreciation here in Germany is really too low. I am almost better known in Cologne than he, that is ashamed, if you know what he is playing for an ice hockey.” But it also shows the standing of Moritz Müller – as a soul and heart of the Cologne sharks and German ice hockey.
Our sources:
- Sportschau interview with Moritz Müller
- DEL website
- Result/game plan on the DEL at Sportschau.de
- Cologne Haie website
