A former sixth round pick turned elite NHL forward, very few are capable of doing it, however the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Brandon Hagel is one of the few who have reached the heights many can only dream of, and for Tampa Bay, he is one of their most important players. Brandon Hagel was a guy the Lightning picked up during the later part of the 2021/22 season via trade with Chicago, and what was meant to be a short term playoff addition has now turned into a cornerstone of the organisation.
If history is anything to go by, Brandon Hagel was never meant to be anything in the NHL, a fringe third line player at most, just like every other sixth round pick in the NHL, but what he has achieved is leaps and bounds better than what he should’ve in the NHL. Ever since joining Tampa Bay, his game has reached new levels. From being a 30 point player in Chicago, to a 90 point player in Tampa, it all paved the way for his eight year, $52 million deal with the Lightning, one of the best deals in the NHL to this day.
Hagel was always a guy who looked like he could reach elite levels ever since he joined Tampa. Starting off with a very impressive 64 points in his first full season with the Bolts, he started to get first line minutes with the likes of Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov, and now, he is the wildcard guy that head coach Jon Cooper can deploy wherever he wants.
As far as value contracts in the NHL go, you have Morgan Geekie on $5.5 million AAV, Adam Lowry on $5 million AAV, and John Tavares’ $4.4 million AAV deal, but nothing right now is compared to Hagel’s AAV of $6.5 million. Despite having a slow start to the season, Hagel has shut down any doubts that he will keep his spot on Team Canada, and continue on from the four nations faceoff last February after scoring 15 goals in 27 points through his last 17 games, exploding out the gates when it matters the most, and reiterating why he is the real deal.
It isn’t often you can get a guy like Hagel on such a good deal, and whether you think it is purely down to the no state tax factor, the truth is he earned it, and Tampa saw the vision. He has seven years left, and this year looks even better than last. With another major international tournament under his belt this season, potentially another gold medal, and another heap of goals and points, in the next seven years, it will be hard to find a better all around deal than Brandon Hagel’s.