Canadiens Daily

Habs Daily: Hage’s NCAA Play, Kapanen Injury, Waivers

Published

1 month ago

January 13, 2025

Marc Dumont

Here are the Montreal Canadiens news items, highlights, and stories you may have missed on the weekend.

Montreal Canadiens News

Freshman Michael Hage continues to have a very encouraging season with the University of Michigan. He had three points in the team’s two games against Notre Dame this weekend, which brings us to two different talking points.

First off, the Wolverines are having a very hard time this year, making his 11 goals and 13 assists in 19 games even more impressive. His closest competition is four points back, though Hage has three games in hand. Oh, and Hage is three years younger. That player, TJ Hughes, is the only other Michigan forward who has reached 20 points this season.

The other subject is Hage’s scoring pace compared to his peers, as pointed out by MasterHockey on Twitter. Hage is currently outproducing all under-19 NCAA players.

Michael Hage 🇨🇦 mène actuellement la NCAA au chapitre des points pour les joueurs U19 !

Hage a été repêché 21e au total par le CH au plus récent repêchage de la LNH 🔵⚪️🔴 #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/w7qkRHtdX4

— MasterHockey (@MasterHockey_) January 12, 2025

ICYMI: The Montreal Canadiens have played half of their 2024-25 hockey season, and have an over-500 record to show for it. Kent Hughes took some flack earlier in the year for floating the idea that this team could be in the mix for a playoff spot, but as things stand, this team is right on the bubble, looking in. With a sufficient body of work for most Habs players, let’s look back at individual performances and see how they fared in the first 41 games of the season. [Canadiens Analysis: Mid-season Tiered Habs Player Rankings]

Prospect Oliver Kapanen was involved in a frightening play which saw him fall to the ice and slam his head without the benefit of a brain-injury preventing helmet. I haven’t been able to find an update as to Kapanen’s condition, but Patrik doesn’t seem to believe it was overly serious, which would be a great result all things considered. The player who ripped Kapanen’s helmet off was suspended for two games.

After #GoHabsGo Kapanen delivers a cross check it becomes a scrum. You can see the helmet fall off before Kapanen’s head hits the ice.
He left the ice on his own accord, but did not return for the third period. Was taken off for precursory reasons. Will probably play Thursday. pic.twitter.com/Eap0ZgJcxW

— Patrik Bexell (@Zeb_Habs) January 11, 2025

ICYMI: Seeing as teams such as the New Jersey Devils are interested in trading for Jake Evans, and the Habs have also expressed their interest in a contract extension, it’s time to take a look at some comparable deals that could serve as a baseline for negotiations with the impending free agent. There’s no way to avoid it, his shooting percentage will lead to a big raise this summer, and that’s a risky proposal for a team offering a long-term deal. [Jake Evans Extension Discussion: Finding Comparable Contracts]

The Vancouver Canucks have placed defenceman Erik Brannstrom on waivers. I’m not suggesting the Habs should pick him up, but it’s a good reminder that getting the sum of the parts in a trade rarely works out. It’s simplistic, but the team that gets the best player at the time of the trade almost always ends up winning the deal, with all due respect to the Vegas Golden Knights and the Pacioretty/Suzuki deal.

Ottawa spent half a decade developing Mark Stone before eventually flipping him to the Golden Knights in exchange for Brannstrom, Oscar Lindberg, and a second-round pick. Brannstrom was not qualified, and was later traded to the Vancouver Canucks by the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Tucker Poolman and a fourth-round pick.

Essentially, the Senators ended up with a half-eaten bag of stale Doritos in exchange for a high-end NHL forward.