Did he not play the first four games because the visa process took some extra time or because the laws didn't allow him to at that time? The article does not say it was because he wasn't legally allowed to say. If you have another article that establishes the latter, that'd be important to establishing what is true and what isn't. Until it can be established that it was the latter, I'm not buying this idea that Hagens cannot play.
It wasn't a coincidence... He signed in August.
Matthews not being able to play four games is very vague and non-descriptive. It's not been established why. It was like 8 years ago at this point, and if we want to talk about counter-vailing examples, we got a guy in Bedard that played in Europe. There's no meaningful distinction between pro and youth in soccer, so why would it be any different for hockey if what's keeping him from playing is an EU law?
It was because he wasn't 18 yet. When he turned 18, he played. It's pretty straight forward.
Bedard was loaned and only played Juniors. He didn't sign a pro player form with the Swedish pro team. That's the complication with signing in youth academies for soccer players. He signed his CHL Player Deal and due to COVID shutting down the WHL, got lent out to a junior team in Sweden.
If you or anyone wants to provide proof, I'm certainly not saying I know for sure. Not trying to come off combative or disrespectful to you. I merely question this idea that because of Matthews and one article that establishes he had some difficulty at the start of his season (for unclear reasons) that Hagens can't play for two months.
I've admitted that none of us likely know all the ins and outs, but the fact that this is a path that *never* happens, outside of Matthews who played 0 pro games before his 18th birthday is certainly highest suggestive of a Visa issue when it comes to playing pro games as a minor by U.S./Canadian law.
As for a loan, I don't see why it doesn't make sense. Players do loans in their draft-seasons all the time as a work-around to league-restrictions. Hischier and Zadina both did so to be able to play AHL after being drafted.
*After* being drafted, so they were already NHL property at that point. A USHL team gets zero benefit to using a limited number of Tenders to sign Hagens just to... ship him out.
There's plenty in it for Hagens, if it allows him to play in a men's league right away.
Not right away, after sitting out for a 1/3 of the season and coming into a team in mid-season form and trying to supplant veteran players in their existing roles.
As for the team, they get his rights. In the unlikely situation it doesn't work out in Europe, he can come back stateside and dominate for them in the USHL.
Huh? Why would he come back? And when? After the world juniors?
Also, who knows when something like COVID might happen again?
A once a century level global pandemic?
If there's nothing to lose, you want to have the rights of the best talents because you never know what'll happen. That's why teams like London and Chicago draft the best talents late in their drafts because the future is impossible to predict and there's nothing to lose from doing so.
the whole plan is for Hagens to bypass the USHL entirely, which he can obviously do by just playing in NCAA after this USNDTP service is done. There's basically zero chance he plays USHL proper (for a real USHL team, aka not USNDPT) as a top prospect, when he can just go NCAA or CHL. If he is playing Euro Pro, he'd presumably be doing it to stay Euro Pro until he can North American Pro (AHL/NHL).
