The Montreal Canadiens are known for being protective of their players. It’s not because the media want to speak to a particular player or prospect that they’ll get to speak to them. We had prime examples of that when Patrik Laine joined the organization or when Jakub Dobes said he wouldn’t understand if he were sent down to the Laval Rocket last season. So when development camp came around, mere days after Jeff Gorton intrigued a lot of people when he said that summer is long and that plenty of things could happen and could make Michael Hage reconsider his decision to go back to school, it wasn’t a given that the Habs would make the exciting prospect field questions, but they did. That was the right call.
After Gorton insinuated the door was still open for Hage to join the Habs this season, it was obvious that the youngster would be grilled about that possibility and the reasons which motivated him to make that call. Despite being only 20 years old, the youngster spoke with calm and eloquence, making it clear that it wasn’t a decision he had made in the heat of the moment but one he had really thought through.
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Essentially, the young man believes he still has things to improve before making the jump to the NHL, and he wants to help Michigan win a national championship. It’s admirable that he has the maturity to prioritize those things over the temptation to turn pro and maximize his earnings earlier, because the sooner you get through your ELC contract, the sooner you can sign a big-money deal. To see Hage prioritize his development rather than choose to get to the dollar bags quicker shouldn’t be all that surprising, really. Kent Hughes has made it clear that the Canadiens, when they draft a player, want to draft character players. Players who will want to be part of a team and work toward one objective: winning, not toward maximum earnings.
When Hage committed to Michigan, he did it to win there, and last year that didn’t happen. The high ankle sprain he suffered threw a spanner in the works, and he couldn’t play as much or as well as he would have had he been healthy for the Frozen Four. At the same time, when he joins the Canadiens, he wants to be the best player he can be, and in that sense, he reminds me of former Habs captain Max Pacioretty.
Back in 2009, Pacioretty had raised more than a few eyebrows in town when he declared in November that his development would be best served with first-line, full minutes with the Hamilton Bulldogs rather than by playing part-time, fourth-line minutes with the Canadiens. The Habs had still called him up, and after 52 games in which he put up only 14 points, they sent him back down to Hamilton, where he was really given a chance to blossom. There’s nothing wrong with an athlete wanting to improve and to be as good as they can be when they make the jump to the NHL. Last season, the American-born winger was a special assistant to coach Brandon Naurato at Michigan, where Hage is playing. I’m not implying that he swayed Hage’s decision; the young man is clearly mature enough to make up his own mind, just highlighting the fact that patience can be a virtue. Given that the Habs’ brass are advocating for fans to be patient with them as they try to keep improving the team by any means possible, they can hardly be mad at Hage for asking the same of them.
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Hage wants to be a center in the NHL, and he knows there are still things he needs to work on to do that. He mentioned he wants to get better at carrying the puck up ice, making the players around him better, taking those big faceoffs in the dying moments of a game, being a better player on the defensive side, and, of course, being better when playing without the puck. Sure, he could work on that in the NHL, and he will no doubt continue working on them when he does turn pro, but it’s wise to keep working on those things at the NCAA level. When he takes that next step, the level of difficulty will be much higher, and the NHL is not a development league.
Not so long ago, the Canadiens were in full rebuilding mode and cared very little about results; they focused heavily on development, but that’s no longer the case. Now, Montreal wants to win; their core players have all committed long-term to the team, leaving money on the table, and they want to keep making the playoffs and improve. There’s nothing wrong with Hage wanting to be as good a player as he can be when he joins them; that’s not a selfish move on his part, far from it. Just as Pacioretty once did, Hage knows what he feels is best for him right now, and seeing him stick to his guns is a testament to his commitment to being the best player he can be; that should be seen as good news for the Canadiens.
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