The Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers have suited up against each other in this first round with the Panthers coming out victorious. With the two teams being powerhouse, many names will come in the headlines. The Panthers will see Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, and Sam Reinhart receive tons of conversation. While on the Lightning side, Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Victor Hedman, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and Jake Guentzel are sure to be the names first brought up.
Both sides have players that make secondary impact and are huge factors to why the state of Florida has been the only eastern representative in the Stanley Cup Final this decade. One of those players that makes a bigger impact than the casual fan would think and deserves to be alongside those headliners is Brandon Hagel.
Hagel’s journey to the NHL
Hagel would be drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the sixth round of the 2016 NHL draft. A spot that not many impact players get selected. He would play in the WHL for the Red Deer Rebels until 2019, improving every single year. A year prior to his WHL departure, Sabres would cut ties with Hagel, relinqueshing his rights and becoming a free agent. Hagel would then go on to try out for the Montreal Canadiens at a training camp and get cut. Considering retiring from hockey, the Chicago Blackhawks would fortunately hand Hagel an entry-level contract on the 30th of October in 2018.
When his WHL tenure was over, Hagel would join the Rockford Ice Hogs of the AHL for an eight-game stint where he would put up his first professional point. The following year, Hagel would play his first full pro season with 31 points in 59 games showing a solid amount of promise and lacing up for his first NHL game.
Then came the global pandemic, and with it taking time for hockey to start up in North America, Hagel would head over seas. Hagel would play for HC Thurgau in the Swiss league and produce over a point per game with 15 points in 14 games. The NHL would began in January and Hagel would have his rookie season. Scoring his first NHL goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets in his 18th career game would be the first milestone in a decent rookie year. Hagel finished with 24 points in 52 games and received a single fifth place vote in Calder voting.
Breaking out and traded to Tampa Bay
2021–22 was the most important year of Hagel’s hockey career. He would sign a three-year extension with an AAV of $1.5M before the season began. Then, he would go on to score 21 goals and 37 points in 55 games for the Blackhawks. His name began to circle in trade rumours as the Blackhawks headed in the wrong direction.
Three days before the trade deadline on March 18, 2022, Hagel would be traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The return would baffle people as the Lightning sent two first-round picks and two young depth pieces for Hagel. Hagel would follow up the big trade with a somewhat disappointing four goals and seven points in 22 games but his ice time did see a drop of four minutes. The Lightning would go a run to the Stanley Cup Final once again, but lose to the Colorado Avalanche.
The Lightning would lose some pieces in the following offseason and there trust in Hagel would grow. Joining the top-six, Hagel would have his first 30 goal season and put up 64 points in an 81 game season. His playoff numbers would improve too as he would almost match the prior year in just six games with five points.
2022–23 would see Tampa Bay undergo more changes and their trust in Hagel continue to grow. He would once again improve in production to 75 points in a full 82 games. The Lightning would play one less playoff game and Hagel would once again put up five points. At this point, heading into the season that just commenced, Hagel was looking like a true top line player for the Lightning.
Hagel’s unbelievable season
Heading into the 2024–25 season, the Lightning were looking to have their best year since coming up short in the Stanley Cup Final. Added onto an already great team was a returning Ryan McDonagh and Jake Guentzel. With those additions, if any player or players could step in big ways, Tampa Bay was destined to return as a cup contender. Brandon Hagel answered that call.
Now if I asked you to tell me the top 15 scorers in the NHL this season, who would you think of? Probably the obvious in Nikita Kucherov, Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, etc. Would you believe me if I told you Brandon Hagel was one of the 15 in the top 15? What if he was only one point shy of being inside the top 10? Well, that’s exactly how it is. Hagel has fully broken out for the Lightning. In 82 games, Hagel has produced 35 goals and 55 assists for 90 points. Hagel even suited up for his country of Canada this season at the 4 Nations Tournament, helping them win gold. Every single scoring statistic has Hagel inside the top 20. Goals? Tied for 18th. Assists? Tied for 19th. Points? Tied for 12th. We live in a world where Sidney Crosby and Brandon Hagel were only separated by one point.
Now let’s take a breath for a second. He was probably playing on the first line with back-to-back Art Ross winner Nikita Kucherov and a top 10 centre in Brayden Point. Right? At 5v5, Hagel-Point-Kucherov was only a line for a total of 48 minutes. Point and Kucherov played 769 minutes without Hagel. Hagel played 843 minutes without Point and Kucherov. Hagel had this phenomenal year being the main guy on Tampa Bay’s second line. Away from all the star players.
But, 5v5 isn’t the only time you play with your team’s top players. There’s the power play as well. Hagel must’ve produced tons on the power play. Across all 82 games, out of the 90 points Hagel scored, only 11 came from the power play. Hagel only had four less shorthanded points than power play points this year. The craziest thing about the power play points? All assists. Not a single goal scored on the power play this season. 35 goals, all away from the man-advantage, the most in NHL history.
Looking at impact away from the scoresheet
What makes Hagel’s season even more special is that not all of his impact came from the scoresheet. He was a top generator of chances, he was unbelievable in the defensive end, and a top penalty killer in the league. I know not every is a fan of analytics and charts, but I believe this is the best way to visualize the impact he has had. So, let’s take a look at his isolated impact chart from HockeyViz.com.
The more red in area means the more shots and chances being generated while blue means the opposite. Red is wanted in the offensive end and blue is wanted in the defensive end.
First, in the offensive end, it was almost impossible to stop Hagel from generating chances. A +11% is some of the best in the league. He wasn’t generating these chances in less dangerous areas in either. Chances were being developed around the net and in the high and low slot. The most dangerous areas of the ice. Hagel was a weapon in the offensive end.
Defensively, Hagel didn’t waver either. Very similar to the offensive side, Hagel scored a -7% which is up there in the league’s best. The most supression was coming in the high and low slots. With Hagel out there, the opposing team had problems with generating high danger chances.
Overall, Hagel accumulated a score of +10.9 sG. A score that shoots him off the chart and is among the best in the league. Hagel’s defensive impact will likely have him draw some votes for the Selke Trophy this year.
A heavily underappreciated season by Hagel
Brandon Hagel had made his way from being cut by two teams and almost quiting hockey to becoming a first line calibre player. He made the trade that left many baffled worth it for the Lightning. Somehow, Hagel took an extra step this season. Just outside the top 10 in scoring and the most goals in a season in NHL history without a power play maker. Some of the best two-way results in the league. Hagel did all of that away from his team’s best players too.
If you’re a Lightning fan or even just a Brandon Hagel fan, you knew of all of this. But the talk around Hagel has been relatively quiet with just how good of a year it’s been. Tampa Bay unfortunately lost their chance for their third cup of the decade, but Hagel will hopefully continue his success in the next season.
