F Michael Hage - University of Michigan, NCAA(2024, 21st, MTL)
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Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
He’s probably more of an NHL winger, but if he sticks at center you are not dreaming.
jj cale
Registered User
Lovely new avatar if I may say so.......bridging that cross cultural divide on here.
Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
They’re the future of hockey! Cant believe anyone would be against it.
montreal
Go Habs Go
- Mar 21, 2002
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montreal
Go Habs Go
- Mar 21, 2002
- 59,313
- 45,691
FrankMTL
Registered User
- Jan 6, 2005
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U19 scoring in the NCAA this season so far.
Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
How is his defense and the two-way responsibilities looking? Haven’t watched any Michigan games this year, but it seems like they play pond hockey and every game is like 7-5, win or loss.
montreal
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it still needs work and the effort is inconsistent but he's Michigan's offense, they really struggle to create much without him. I didn't know him when we picked him but over the summer watched 7 or 8 of his USHL games and was impressed but at Michigan he's been unreal offensively, very impressive but will need to bulk up a good bit. He's been hit hard this year several times.
OilersFanatics505
Registered User
- Aug 11, 2008
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Canada dropped the ball by not bringing him to the WJC
montreal
Go Habs Go
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In a vid I did, I put in the title I hope Team Canada is watching, guess they weren't cause it's not just the points, it's him creating the bulk of the chances for Michigan's offense. I've been a huge NCAA fan over the past 25 years, you don't often see Freshman do what he is doing, without much help and not being say a top 5 or top 10.
He didn’t play for Canada when younger and then went to play in the USHL instead of the CHL. That sealed his fate with Hockey Canada.
Dont crucify me here but he and hagens are same birth year, 7 months apart
Hage is taller and heavier, so it’s not a size thing
I haven’t watched either player so bear with me but what makes hagens a top pick this summer while hage was more of a tweener in 24?
montreal
Go Habs Go
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I've seen all but 3 of Hage's games this year and I've seen almost every one of Hagen's games at BC since Fowler is there. Both are highly skilled offensive players, both will need to bulk up, get stronger and work on their all round games. I also have some doubts if they will be centers in the NHL but we'll see how they progress.
I haven't seen a ton of this draft class but all year I have not be a big fan and think this could be a weak draft, last year may end up being just a deeper class. Then add it's easier to project in your draft year if you play in the NCAA vs the USHL. I'm not a huge Hagen's fan, if he's the #1 pick then I would think it's a weak class, but I wouldn't complain if the Habs ended up with him.
Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
They play on different teams and you can’t just use raw PPG to compare two players on different teams in different drafts. Hagens has also dwarfed Hage in others years statistically.
Well as i said they are both the same birth year which implies same amount of years of development. To me that makes the different draft years a moot point.
We compare players on different teams in the same league all the time on this board.
Im just wondering if hage is perhaps flawed in a way or has a more conducive situation for putting up big numbers than hagens is.
Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
Well, I’m not sure it actually does. People always try to manipulate birth year vs. draft year. It’s discussed incessantly. It seems clear to me that the apt conclusion is that you can’t adequately compare a late birthday to an early birthday in a draft or overall level context. Of course, it’s sometimes needed (like picking between two players in a draft where you’re dealing with that data set), but when it’s needed you should at least account for the fact that you’re dealing with a messy set of data and it’s probably best to not make that the major thesis for a certain view. It’s cleanest to compare an early birthday to an early birthday or a late birthday to a late birthday, and when you must compare a late to an early you should be cautious in how much weight you give that factor, given it’s a messy comparison and there’s no good conversion rate anyone has come up with to make this comparison.
To additionally add context, BC has played pretty much the hardest first half of the season schedule in NCAA history. Cole Eiserman only has one less point than Hagens and Leonard. Hard to believe he’s also somehow made a huge jump to being way better than where he was drafted and at the same level as the BC trio. This BC trio just lit up the World Juniors, so yeah I’d say that they’re probably scoring about where they should.
As for Hage, he’s scoring probably a little above what would be expected. He’s also probably not much of a defensive player and I’d say unlikely to stick at center (I’d heavily disagree with Montreal’s idea that Hagens is unlikely to stick at center). So Hage is probably overachieving expectations a little with his scoring, scoring is likely his ticket to the NHL, and his value will likely be looked at a little differently when he moves up to pro hockey and is used as a winger.
montreal
Go Habs Go
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I said " have some doubts if they will be centers in the NHL" that's very different from unlikely to stick. I don't care if Hagens or Hage end up as centers or not, but I do have some issues with their size/defense at center. There's no harm in having doubts, with prospects it's ALWAYS about progress or a lack of and all I do is try to track their progress over years (for Hab prospects only of course as I have a small business to run)
danisonfire
2313 Saint Catherine
- Jul 2, 2009
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Which is a big reason as to why we keep losing and getting outplayed by other countries. It might be time for the dinosaurs to change their approach and just bring the best players available.
Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
I respect your opinion. I was just saying I disagreed. Didn't want to start a fight, but I was responding to @Frank Drebin's post, and he asked about the differences, so I was merely saying I see it differently from you in that respect.
I agree with you about Hage. I said in May before he was drafted that I can see how it happens. I don't want to take too much credit for that idea. I heard it elsewhere, and it made sense to me. I initially on my own just thought of him as a guy who'll be an offensive center, but after some reflection on the idea I've come around to the idea that a scoring winger may just be a cleaner fit for him.
For Hagens, I think for a sub 6'0 center (and he was 5'11 in the preseason measurements at age 17, so for all we know he's now not sub 6'0 anymore) he's pretty good defensively. He's better defensively at the same age than players like Hughes or Bedard, who lets face it are sticking at center in the NHL, whether good defensively or not. Hagens has also been pretty solid on face-offs in the NCAA, considering he's 47% as one of the youngest players in the NCAA (usually some of the youngest players in a league who are bad on draws are in the 30's). And he was a PK'er last year at the NTDP and led the Gold Medal Winning American WJC team this year in TOI/G for a forward, so he wasn't exactly getting sheltered.
JadedRandom
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- Aug 14, 2008
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I've noticed that Hage's role and positioning offensively for Michigan has changed a bit in the last few weeks, that he's started to take more chances offensively and deferring some of the defensive switches and backchecks that he used to take on as a center for his team to other players.
Simply put, Hage now plays a lot more "position-less" than he did at the start of the year, where he'd be a little more rigid with defensive assignments and coming down in his zone to help his D.
Maybe that's at the behest of Hage's coach, since Michigan struggles a LOT to create any kind of offense against tough defensive teams when Michael Hage isn't leading the way for them offensively and in transition with his puck-handling and his speed.
It could also be a change that Hage himself made to his game to try and be more effective offensively, I'm not sure. But I did observe quite a couple of sequences recently where Hage wound-up playing primarily a winger's game of waiting-out changes in possession near the opposing D on the boards instead of what I saw earlier in the season.
Basically, I've noticed that Hage plays a lot more like a center/wing hybrid now than he did to start the year and I don't know if that trend will stick, or might be a portent into what's to come for him in the NHL (e.g. being more of a winger than center at the NHL level).
I've got to say though that I am just as impressed by Hage's raw tools as a prospect now as I've been all year watching Michigan games. I mean, I'd rather Hage stuck at center personally and played a fundamentally-solid type of "traditional-center game", but the way he's been playing of late has been quite impressive too, especially offensively on a talent-starved Michigan team.
I really think that Michael Hage has everything you'd want in a top-6 forward prospect except from "+" size/strength. But with a good bit of bulking-up I could see Hage being a pretty solid player against contact even by NHL standards in, say, 3-4 years.
Simply put, Hage now plays a lot more "position-less" than he did at the start of the year, where he'd be a little more rigid with defensive assignments and coming down in his zone to help his D.
Maybe that's at the behest of Hage's coach, since Michigan struggles a LOT to create any kind of offense against tough defensive teams when Michael Hage isn't leading the way for them offensively and in transition with his puck-handling and his speed.
It could also be a change that Hage himself made to his game to try and be more effective offensively, I'm not sure. But I did observe quite a couple of sequences recently where Hage wound-up playing primarily a winger's game of waiting-out changes in possession near the opposing D on the boards instead of what I saw earlier in the season.
Basically, I've noticed that Hage plays a lot more like a center/wing hybrid now than he did to start the year and I don't know if that trend will stick, or might be a portent into what's to come for him in the NHL (e.g. being more of a winger than center at the NHL level).
I've got to say though that I am just as impressed by Hage's raw tools as a prospect now as I've been all year watching Michigan games. I mean, I'd rather Hage stuck at center personally and played a fundamentally-solid type of "traditional-center game", but the way he's been playing of late has been quite impressive too, especially offensively on a talent-starved Michigan team.
I really think that Michael Hage has everything you'd want in a top-6 forward prospect except from "+" size/strength. But with a good bit of bulking-up I could see Hage being a pretty solid player against contact even by NHL standards in, say, 3-4 years.
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