Blackhawks 2024 NHL Draft Profile 1.0 includes an ultra-intriguing local product

If you’re into local products, you may know Michael Hage, someone who should definitely be there when the Blackhawks pick at 18th overall. Because of the likelihood Hage will be there toward the second half of the first round, let’s conduct a deep dive into the forward and check out who he is, what he does well, and what still needs to turn into strengths.   

As a quick snapshot, Hage was an outstanding points producer this past season for the Chicago Steel, and you can attribute a lot of that to his raw ability to play a good game when his team has the puck. He’s the type of player who has an NHL-caliber shot, and an elite NHL-caliber pass, and those are two major reasons why he will eventually see the ice with a big club, and maybe that big club will be called the Chicago Blackhawks. 

Now that you know a little about Hage, feel free to take a deeper dive, as we will cover everything, from just how well he produced last season to what exactly makes him such a dynamic player. There are a few aspects of his game that need fine-tuning, but that’s to be expected for a player who should be a mid-first-round pick. 

Who is Michael Hage?

It’s always epic to find a player who boasts NHL-ready size in the draft, and if the Blackhawks drafted someone like Michael Hage, he could be the second pick to bring such size to the prospects pool, with Ivan Demidov or Artyom Levshunov likely heading into the system. Besides his size, Hage also enjoyed a productive 2023-24 season following a 10-game, five-goal, 13-point campaign in 2022-23 - regular season numbers.

But Hage’s numbers in 2023-24 were outrageous, as he notched 33 goals and 42 helpers in 54 regular season games, giving him a grand total of 75 points before he followed that up with four points in the postseason and another two goals in a pair of games.

He spent the previous two seasons with the Chicago Steel, which foreshadowed an eventual venture into the NCAA. That became official when he signed on to play for the Michigan Wolverines, who will give Hage a chance to showcase his skills with one of the best college hockey programs in the country.