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New Lightning forward Brandon Hagel has found believers with hard work, patience

From his first days playing hockey, Hagel has been driven by having to work harder. Now, he’s a key piece of the Lightning’s future.
Lightning left wing Brandon Hagel (38) chases the puck during the first period of Thursday's game against the Bruins in Boston. [ CHARLES KRUPA | AP ]
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Updated Mar 26, 2022

BOSTON — When Brandon Hagel’s world changed March 18, his first call was to his father, Dwayne.

“Dad, I’m traded, but I don’t know where I’m going,” he said.

Initially, Brandon was stunned. In a hockey career founded on proving doubters wrong, the Blackhawks were the one team that had believed in him, and now they were moving him.

“He was still choked up,” Dwayne said. “I told him, ‘Son, you’re going to a contender. You’re going to someone that wants you. And it’s what you’ve always done in your career: When someone wants you, it’s a good feeling, and it will be great.’ "

In the next few hours, Brandon had wrapped his head around his future with the Lightning. His on-ice promise and work ethic, and a club-friendly contract made him a popular target before Monday’s trade deadline, and the Lightning had to put together an impressive offer to get him, one that included two first-round draft picks and rookie forwards Taylor Raddysh and Boris Katchouk.

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His new teammates reached out to him quickly, and by the end of the day, his father could tell that he was sold on Tampa.

“He’s already talking about buying a house in Florida,” Dwayne Hagel said. “The guys convinced him. ... It’s only been a week, and they’re on the road and he’s said, ‘Dad, this is a good group.’”

Perfect timing

Lightning forward Brandon Hagel, right, made his first call after getting traded to his father, Dwayne, left.
[ The Hagel Family ]

Four years ago, Brandon Hagel, now 23, was thinking about life after hockey.

His lifelong dream of playing in the NHL was hanging by a thread, and the drive he had had to get there since he was a kid was wavering.

Hagel had been drafted by Buffalo in the sixth round in 2016 and gone to the Sabres’ training camp, but the team opted not to sign him. He was left with just one more season of juniors to earn an NHL entry-level deal.

Beating the odds wasn’t new to him. Growing up in the small town of Morinville, Alberta, he had been overlooked many times before. His name wasn’t called in the bantam draft, and he was passed over for Alberta Cup and Canadian national team opportunities.

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But what happened in Buffalo really stung. Former NHL player and coach Brent Sutter, who was the general manager of Hagel’s junior team, Red Deer, had talked him into playing one more year for the Rebels. But Hagel was considering returning to school to take some prerequisite classes to become a teacher.

“I gave myself until Christmas before I ended up actually going into school,” Hagel said. “I wanted to have a successful life no matter what I did. I knew that was the route that I might need to take.”

Knowing it was his last chance to get an NHL team’s attention, Hagel made sure he was ready for the 2018-19 season. He worked to put on more weight, skated more and went to the University of Alberta to work out with the team.

“I said, ‘Don’t worry about school, it’ll be there. Just do what you have to, just don’t quit. Just live it,’ and he did,” Dwayne Hagel said. “That season, he worked so hard.”

Hagel scored 30 points in the first 19 games of the season with Red Deer, and the Blackhawks offered him a contract. He finished with 102 points in 66 games, then joined Chicago’s AHL team, Rockford, for eight games after Red Deer was knocked out of the playoffs.

After attending the Blackhawks’ training camp before the next season, he was assigned again to Rockford. Hagel finally had his opportunity.

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He made his NHL debut March 11, 2020, right before the league put the season on hold for the pandemic.

“It was pretty crazy how quick it happened,” he said. “Life-changing, basically.”

Finding believers

Playing for the Chicago Blackhawks, Brandon Hagel skates over the Anaheim Ducks' Brendan Guhle in pursuit of a loose puck during a game earlier this month in Chicago.
[ CHARLES REX ARBOGAST | Associated Press ]

Hagel’s first goal with the Lightning, on Thursday in Boston, was fitting. It came shorthanded, the result of a forecheck in the neutral zone that forced the puck loose. Hagel jetted up the ice and was positioned perfectly for a one-timer in front of the net off a feed from Ondrej Palat.

“He competes like a son of a gun,” coach Jon Cooper said Thursday.

Hagel’s play is the kind the Lightning is looking for in their drive for a third straight Stanley Cup. He’s strong on the forecheck, battles for the puck and isn’t afraid to get physical despite being just 5 feet 11 and 174 pounds.

That’s how Hagel has compensated for never being the biggest, fastest or most-skilled player growing up. He knows his game relies on his compete level, and this season it has turned him into a 20-goal scorer with a two-way game the Lightning want as part of their future.

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When Hagel was 8 or 9, he was playing with kids two years older than he was and who had more experience and 8 inches and 50 pounds on the 5-foot, 80-pounder.

“He worked hard,” said Hagel’s brother, Tyler, who is three years older. “And even playing against those bigger guys, you almost have to be a little smarter to figure out how to mingle around them. Even starting from the beginning, he was just smart with the puck.”

In the Lightning, Hagel has a team that believes in him. But the chip on his shoulder won’t go away.

“I think I’ve always started from the bottom … since I was a little kid,” he said. “I never made it to all these Team Canada things and all these other things as a younger kid, so I always went through that adversity, not signing in Buffalo, getting passed over in the bantam draft.

“So that’s why I kind of just stuck to the 100-percent effort every night, because that’s what made me successful, and that’s what got me here.”

Contact Eduardo A. Encina at eencina@tampabay.com. Follow @EddieintheYard.

• • •

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