Born in Neepawa, Manitoba, 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 LA\'s system, earning a 15-game callup to their NHL squad in 1971–72.\n', '

In the 1972 NHL Expansion Draft, Mikkelson was exposed by the Kings and claimed by the New York Islanders. In their inaugural season of 1972–73, 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 NHL had begun recording the stat in 1967. For the 1973–74 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.\n', '

Mikkelson was exposed again in the 1974 NHL 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 NHL worst plus/minus rating of -82. More than four decades later, this remains an NHL record and no-one has posted a mark worse than -61 since.\n', '

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