Where would the Blackhawks be had they kept Brandon Hagel?

If you’ve been watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which you should be, you’ll come to the realization that the Chicago Blackhawks are a long way away from being a true championship contender. While contending for a postseason spot isn’t as far away as some might say, they are still missing a lot to be an effective team this time of year.

It’s quite obvious that many of their young players will have to reach new levels in their game that some may never have thought possible. If they don’t, the Blackhawks could be stuck in neutral for the foreseeable future. They will also need to add a player or two who make this team harder to play against. Unfortunately, the perfect addition for this roster is a player who once called the United Center home.

Lightning Strikes on Hagel Deal

The first two games of the series between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens have been the Brandon Hagel Show. After scoring two goals in Game 1, he followed that up with a Gordie Howe hat trick in Game 2. He has turned into a two-way force on the ice, combining physicality, toughness, defense, and elite goal-scoring ability. He’s a unicorn and exactly what the Blackhawks need.

Anytime Hagel has a big game, whether it’s in the Stanley Cup Playoffs or on the international stage, my mentions fill up with people saying the Blackhawks should have never traded him. Hindsight is always 20/20, but not trading him in 2022 would have put this team on a different path that might not be as good as you think.

Hagel was originally drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the sixth round of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, but they never signed them. So, that’s two fanbases wondering why their favorite team gave up on this guy too early. Could you imagine what this year’s Sabres team would look like with Hagel on the roster?

The Blackhawks signed Hagel in 2018, and he blossomed into a solid NHL player. After scoring nine goals and 24 points in his rookie season, he had 21 goals and 27 points through the first 55 games of the 2021-22 season when the Lightning inquired about his services.

“I was finding my groove in Chicago, working my way up the lineup, getting some more opportunities, and really appreciative of that. I loved Chicago, their organization, everyone was great,” Hagel recently told Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. “Was it a shock to me? Yeah, it was.

“At the same time, I was getting traded to a team at a pretty young age that just won back-to-back Stanley Cups. For my career, that’s only going to benefit me, you get to walk into a dressing room with a bunch of champions. You get one of the best coaches in the league. Not many guys get that opportunity.”

Did the Trade Make Sense?

Here’s the thing: Hagel was not the player he is today when Kyle Davidson traded him in 2022. It’s very easy now to declare that it was a bad move, but at the time, the deal made a ton of sense. Davidson had just taken over a franchise going into rebuild mode with very few prospects and even fewer draft picks. Getting offered a package that included two first-round picks for him was an outstanding return. If Davidson had the foresight to know he was going to blossom into the player who has scored 127 goals and 313 over the past four seasons, he might have built around him.

But, had he kept Hagel for the 2022-23 season, and he scored the same 30 goals he did for Tampa Bay, there is a good chance the Blackhawks don’t win the draft lottery, and Connor Bedard is not here. And then where would this franchise be? Sure, things aren’t great right now, but they are on the upswing. Would Hagel be as effective had he remained in Chicago? I’m not sure about that.

Part of the reason Hagel has excelled with the Lightning is that he’s a perfect fit for that roster. He has a head coach, Jon Cooper, who knows exactly how to use him. He also went to a roster with a ton of high-end talent, including Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, and Brayden Point. He’s never had to be the top guy there. He fit right into the Lightning’s third line with Anthony Cirelli, and they have emerged as one of the hardest duos to play against.

There is no way Hagel would have had the same experience had he stayed with the Blackhawks and played under Luke Richardson. He would have been asked to play a different role, and who knows if he would have had the same success and progression. I’m not a betting man, but my money is on no.

Hagel was on the 2021-22 roster with other guys that Blackhawks fans lament about keeping, like Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat, and Marc-Andre Fleury. At the time of Hagel’s trade, that roster had 53 points and was 17 points out of a playoff spot.

Four years later, the Lightning are the big winners of this trade. They have a dynamic winger on a very team-friendly contract. Meanwhile, the Blackhawks have yet to bear the fruit of this deal. Boris Katchouk and Taylor Raddysh served their purpose on a roster bad enough to win the Draft Lottery and get Bedard. The two draft picks, Oliver Moore and Sacha Boisvert, are still relative unknowns. If they both reach their potential and become contributors to a playoff team down the road, then the sting from this trade will lessen.

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