If Hagens doesn't go first, based on the data we have (there's still months to play, so you never know, but nothing has changed so far this season and I don't see why it's about to), I will finally join all the European countries in believing the draft is at worst heavily biased towards the Canadians and potentially even just rigged for them because they control all the institutions. Americans can't get a fair shot if Hagens isn't going first above Martone, Schaefer, and Misa.
You might celebrate your country getting the first pick for the 5th year in 6 (and we're already told Canada claimed 2026 and 2027, so it'll be 7 in 8), but you risk living in an echo chamber. All the Canadians risk this. When you've arrived at a situation when the whole world thinks the NHL draft is a completely unfair process, except for Canadian players, we don't have a remotely above board system. We also now have a situation where the Canadian IIHF president has banned one of the two biggest competitors in international hockey from competition.
Banning competitors and rigging the draft in their favor is a good way to turn away interest from outside Canada. Maybe Canada should start playing hockey between provinces in their own echo chamber, and the rest of the world can live in a fair system where everyone is treated the same.