Prospect Info: [2024 - 21st] Michael Hage, Chicago Steel (USHL), Committed to U of Michigan

[montreal]

I know the NCAA is your bread and butter and you have a lot of years experience watching prospects in college hockey. Where do you see Hage's potential?

It's always about progress or a lack of so we'll see over time but for now he's looking great in terms of offensive skills. Not 100% sold he's going to be a center in the NHL and he needs a lot of work on adding mass, strength, and he's not consistently a hard worker but he's trending to be a very solid top 6 skater for us.

 

[Scriptor]

Yeah there's obviously no guarantee, and that's with any prospect no matter how good they're doing at a lower level. I'd obviously rather they perform great at the lower levels.

I think Newhook is a decent player. He may not have lived up to "the hype" but he's an NHLer who should produce 20 goals a year on a 3rd line eventually and that's fine for a 16th overall pick.

How the do you see him producing 20 goals in a 3rd line role!?

Only way he scores 20 would be by cheating, night in, night out and ending up with a negative goal differential at even strength verging on -20 (basically, giving up twice as many goals as those he scores at even strength)

 

[Miller Time]

Will be fun to see how he shows up in crunch time as a rookie in the NCAA.

I get the feeling he's got the "rise to the occasion" gene in him

 

[Adam Michaels]

Will be fun to see how he shows up in crunch time as a rookie in the NCAA.

I get the feeling he's got the "rise to the occasion" gene in him

Michigan is out of the Big Ten Tournament. They got eliminated by Penn State in two straight games (6-5 in OT on Friday and 5-2 on Saturday). Hage only had an assist, was -3, had 2 SOG, and a 75% FOW in the two games. I didn't watch so I don't know if Hage still played well despite the not-so-great stats and the losses.

Now, Michigan will wait until the selection show, which will be on March 23rd to see if Michigan will be selected to take part in the NCAA Tournament. They currently sit 14th in the Pairwise. I'm not sure if that's enough, but I believe @montreal is more knowledgeable if where Michigan sit, if they have a chance.

 

[Miller Time]

Michigan is out of the Big Ten Tournament. They got eliminated by Penn State in two straight games (6-5 in OT on Friday and 5-2 on Saturday). Hage only had an assist, was -3, had 2 SOG, and a 75% FOW in the two games. I didn't watch so I don't know if Hage still played well despite the not-so-great stats and the losses.

Now, Michigan will wait until the selection show, which will be on March 23rd to see if Michigan will be selected to take part in the NCAA Tournament. They currently sit 14th in the Pairwise. I'm not sure if that's enough, but I believe @montreal is more knowledgeable if where Michigan sit, if they have a chance.

Bummer... Certainly not a great outcome or personal output. Hopefully they sneak in and he gets a crack at some performance redemption.

 

[WeThreeKings]

He proved over the year that he still needs another year at the NCAA level.

It was a strong campaign for him, with little support on the roster, but he definitely ran out of steam at the end of the year and took a lot of big hits and dirty hits. He was targeted. Wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't fully healthy down the stretch run.

 

[Whitesnake]

Michigan as a team does not deserve to move on. What a bad team this was. For Hage, well if he is not going to get any help next year, move him to Laval.

they are getting McKinney so that's good. Aidan Park too. So that should help.

 

[Whitesnake]

He proved over the year that he still needs another year at the NCAA level.

It was a strong campaign for him, with little support on the roster, but he definitely ran out of steam at the end of the year and took a lot of big hits and dirty hits. He was targeted. Wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't fully healthy down the stretch run.

They are just adding McKinney and Park up front. While losing at least Estapa. But frankly, look at the stats. I've never seen something like that. They might not even have 1 single guy who will sign with their NHL team before senior year....it's insane. And they'll lose Edwards, Duke and Truscott on the back end.....

Unless there are major announcement...that team could be worst next year.

 

[TomKosto]

Should we worry about the 3 goals in 17 games (something like that)? Don’t watch a lot of NCAA games.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

They are just adding McKinney and Park up front. While losing at least Estapa. But frankly, look at the stats. I've never seen something like that. They might not even have 1 single guy who will sign with their NHL team before senior year....it's insane. And they'll lose Edwards, Duke and Truscott on the back end.....

Unless there are major announcement...that team could be worst next year.

Couldn't he transfer to another NCAA team?

 

[WeThreeKings]

Should we worry about the 3 goals in 17 games (something like that)? Don’t watch a lot of NCAA games.

Not really.. they had no one to take the heat off of him, so he was getting double covered and hit dirtily every chance anyone got.

 

[montreal]

Michigan is out of the Big Ten Tournament. They got eliminated by Penn State in two straight games (6-5 in OT on Friday and 5-2 on Saturday). Hage only had an assist, was -3, had 2 SOG, and a 75% FOW in the two games. I didn't watch so I don't know if Hage still played well despite the not-so-great stats and the losses.

Now, Michigan will wait until the selection show, which will be on March 23rd to see if Michigan will be selected to take part in the NCAA Tournament. They currently sit 14th in the Pairwise. I'm not sure if that's enough, but I believe @montreal is more knowledgeable if where Michigan sit, if they have a chance.

His season is over unofficially, as of today they are still in it but with so many teams still playing games and Michigan being among the final cuts as of today, means they would need a ton of help to get in. By this Sunday we should know 100% I would think.

He did not play all that well this weekend,

He proved over the year that he still needs another year at the NCAA level.

It was a strong campaign for him, with little support on the roster, but he definitely ran out of steam at the end of the year and took a lot of big hits and dirty hits. He was targeted. Wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't fully healthy down the stretch run.

Early in the season you could see he was being targeted as he was Michigan's offense, shut him down and you pretty much shut down Michigan's entire offense for the most part.

Should we worry about the 3 goals in 17 games (something like that)? Don’t watch a lot of NCAA games.

he's weak physically, needs to bulk up but his effort without the puck is inconsistent. There are some concerns for him for sure but the skill level and skating are NHL level.

Couldn't he transfer to another NCAA team?

yes. His coach had some comments about his game a few weeks back that I found a bit odd or troubling to some degree as he talked about wanting more from him, I'd have to go back and read it again though.

 

[TomKosto]

he's weak physically, needs to bulk up but his effort without the puck is inconsistent. There are some concerns for him for sure but the
.

Ok thanks for the info. I was seeing a lot of people here writing he's a sure shot to be a 2nd line center, a equivalent prospect to Stankoven, sure thing to put 42pts in first 82 nhl games,etc. and when I look at the stats, I have a hard time seeing that. I knew he started real good and was wondering why the production was so low in the last 15games he played.

 

[Maitz]

He needs another season in Michigan to bulk up but I will expect him to dominate and at least be 20-25-45 pts kind of guy before moving to Laval

 

[SlafySZN]

Ok thanks for the info. I was seeing a lot of people here writing he's a sure shot to be a 2nd line center, a equivalent prospect to Stankoven, sure thing to put 42pts in first 82 nhl games,etc. and when I look at the stats, I have a hard time seeing that. I knew he started real good and was wondering why the production was so low in the last 15games he played.

A combinaison of many things I’d say. I watched pretty much every game he played this year.

This year Michigan isn’t the team it usually is most years. So he didn’t benefit from having other dominant players around him. He also has his flaws like montreal said he still needs to get stronger, maybe work on his board battles/forecheck, but he’s more of a goal scorer so he was positioning himself to shoot but didn’t have anyone who could make plays for him. Scoring is down in the NCAA this year so he’s had a pretty good overall year in terms of his stats for a freshman.

He has the hands, skills, skating and shot but needs to work on the fundamentals to round up his general game.

Another year in the NCAA will greatly benefit him. He’ll be able to grow physically and his game.

 

[montreal]

Ok thanks for the info. I was seeing a lot of people here writing he's a sure shot to be a 2nd line center, a equivalent prospect to Stankoven, sure thing to put 42pts in first 82 nhl games,etc. and when I look at the stats, I have a hard time seeing that. I knew he started real good and was wondering why the production was so low in the last 15games he played.

I'm not sold on him being a center in the NHL just yet. He was very impressive this year but faded in the 2nd half which in the NCAA, the 2nd half is almost always the tougher schedule unless you are in a weak conference. I would compare Hage to Caufield and say that had similar impacts in their respective Freshman years. Caufield was shit defensively in terms of effort, so Hage is a bit ahead and he plays a tougher position, had less help and his offense is more well rounded but of course he can't snipe it like Cole.