Brandon Hagel

The Chicago Blackhawks have traded forward Brandon Hagel to the Tampa Bay Lightning for a hefty return that includes two first-round draft picks, ...

Hagel leads the Blackhawks in goals scored above average (13.3), per Evolving Hockey data. His 22.3 shooting percentage is the third highest in the NHL this season for players with at least 50 appearances. The first-round picks are top-10 protected, according to sources.

Année après année, l'objectif de Julien Brisebois est le même : remporter la Coupe Stanley. Et il prend des décisions en ce sens.

Nous bénéficions de son contrat actuel qui offre une très bonne valeur et nous obtenons l’avantage qu’il nous aide à chasser un championnat en ce moment, au lieu que ces 2 joueurs [de premier tour] se transforment peut-être en joueurs de la LNH plus tard. Nous savons quelles sont les chances que les choix tardifs de premier tour se transforment en bons joueurs de la LNH. » En 2023, il ne repêchera pas avant la troisième ronde. On pense aux acquisitions de Blake Coleman et Barclay Goodrow. Quand on évalue un joueur, on regarde trois choses : la qualité du joueur, de la personne et du contrat, a-t-il énuméré. Brandon coche toutes les cases, ce pourquoi nous étions prêts à payer ce prix pour acquérir ses services. Année après année, l’objectif de Julien Brisebois est le même : remporter la Coupe Stanley. Et il prend des décisions en ce sens.

Dany Dubé analyse les raisons qui ont poussé Julien BriseBois à faire l'acquisition de Brandon Hagel à fort prix.

En retour, le Lightning a cédé des sélections de premier tour en 2023 et en 2024, ainsi que les jeunes attaquants Taylor Raddysh et Boris Katchouk. En plus de ...

Les Blackhawks l’ont récompensé, en août, en lui accordant un contrat de trois ans, d’une valeur globale de 4,5 M$ US. Cette saison, il a inscrit 21 buts et 16 aides en 55 matchs. Le Lightning de Tampa Bay a fait l’acquisition de Brandon Hagel des Blackhawks de Chicago vendredi, un attaquant de 23 ans à qui il restera deux années à écouler à son contrat une fois la saison actuelle terminée.

Let's take a look at what Chicago lost and gained with their first big trade of the season.

But some that is to be expected based on their lack of NHL experience and their role on the Lightning: not only are growing pains common in rookie seasons, Raddysh and Katchouk were on one of the deepest teams in the league and regulated to the fourth-line as a result. Chicago has only one prospect — Lukas Reichel — that is projected be at least second-line quality in terms of production, so picking up two players with little to no offensive results so far in the NHL is a risk. I know that’s hard to do — and I’ve even voiced my own concerns about it — but the variables are a little too unknown as this time to come to a full conclusion on how this deal will work out for the Blackhawks. Because ultimately while Hagel would be useful during a rebuild, it’s possible that the Blackhawks are maximizing the highest return for him before his contract stops being a bargain by amassing assets that align with the long-term rebuild. The number of players makes it more valuable than the players themselves alone because there’s a greater chance of one of them being useful to the Blackhawks. Obviously there has to be some upside to the players, but it’s always about quantity impacting probability, baby. The general value of late first-round picks — which is where these picks from the Lightning are likely going to be for the next two seasons barring catastrophe — are overrated by the general public. And it is always possible to find gems in the those latter spots in the first round — David Pastrňák is the most commonly used example — it’s just more rare, so two chances at it is better than not. It’s undeniable that first-round draft picks are viewed as the holy grail of picks, and there is some merit in that belief because picking higher can have obvious advantages. Those types of players are hard to come by — the Blackhawks have only really had one other over the last decade in Andrew Shaw — so it’s understandable why so many would want to keep a young utility spark plug player like Hagel around during a rebuild. Hagel is one of those players who always looks like the hardest worker on the ice and that hard work typically translates on the scorecard and off in tangible ways. This has to be something the Blackhawks are concerned about considering they missed on moving other young players — like Dominik Kubalik — before a decline in performance means they have little value currently. It’s absolutely suspect if Hagel will be able to repeat this season’s success with the Blackhawks so moving him while the iron is hot seems like a good idea. For the other group, Hagel is the type of player that a team should keep when rebuilding since he’s a young, fast, skilled player that’s good in the locker room.

According to Dreger, the trade discussions never got to the point where the Blackhawks would have had to ask Fleury if he was willing to go to Toronto because ...

This is all hypothetical, of course, because we don’t know if Fleury would have OK’d the deal even if Toronto went for it, but that’s an excellent return. Chicago and Toronto discussed Hagel and Fleury to the Leafs for Mrazek, Matthew Knies and 1st round picks. This afternoon, TSN hockey insider Darren Dreger reported that a potential deal that would have sent Hagel and Fleury to Toronto died on the cutting room floor.