There’s A Bit of Pacioretty In Canadiens’ Prospect Hage

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.