Yeah but he's also 23.
We're not talking about a prime aged guy here. He's in his 2nd full NHL season.
I'm not disagreeing, or not entirely with you (with the return they got, yes, I am, but, I don't believe you expected this large of a return?),
I'm more so posting this not directed to you, but this place in general.
What is funny to me is that, if he had started his career a few years earlier (I don't know much about Hagel, my guess is he was not NHL ready yet? In terms why he started his NHL career as 'late' as he did), and his current level of progress is still about where he was, people would have been calling him a bust and screaming for his trade, calling him trash, etc. already.
Being 23, even as a d-man (if they started playing in the NHL young enough and have enough seasons under their belt) around this place = more than enough time to decide the developmental outcome of players and declare them busts around here, I've noticed. Patience for prospects isn't exactly at a premium. Only factoring in what happened this season (now I am talking period, with all players in all ways), or better yet the current/past month, or series of 5 games or sometimes even less than that, actually, is what is at a premium here. That's how some players magically go from "putrid" and "atrocious" to "generational" or at least "1C" and back... 5 times, in terms of caliber of player. Top-20 player in the NHL to liability who is done, to elite, all in a span of a year-year and a half, max.
Yes, 23 is too early. Try telling that to people here when the player is 23 and in their 4th or 5th season.
Yes, I know not literally every poster is like this. And maybe I'm the one who is in the wrong. I have many of the very worst takes on here about hockey on a very frequent basis, check my posting history. Prepare a puke bag, I fit right in here.