By: Declan Flavin | Follow me on Twitter / X @FlavinDeclan
With a skill-based prospect like James Hagens, you’re always worried that there isn’t much else to pair with his talent. Or at least, the worry is that players like him don’t have the innate compete or ability to improve on the forecheck to go with the skill.
A prospect like Matthew Poitras has struggled more with that inability to maintain consistency on the forecheck, which is necessary to stay upright enough and utilize his expertise. It’s a cruel world for finesse players to live in, and you can usually tell by the first few games how a prospect will be able to handle the heat.
Hagens’ Modern Forechecking Leads to First Point
In Hagens’ debut against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the goal that he was a part of was started by a classic modern National Hockey League situation. The puck was rolling towards the back of the Blue Jackets’ net, and Hagens had to maintain enough persistence and physicality to get the defender’s back to face him and need support.
Most teams have to avoid a sequence like that all the time, but Boston Bruins fans can specifically remember the torturous zone exit attempts they tried to make in their playoff clashes against the Florida Panthers, and the ability of that team’s forwards to instinctually forecheck in this way. They set the bar for how stability in the NHL could be reached.
Now, you just might finally have struck gold with that forward who pressures the puck the right way before anything else. Not only would this keep Hagens around through the playoffs, but it would set up an even more intriguing season next year with a full offseason’s work.
Yes, it was the only highlight-worthy play of Hagens’ career so far, but the situation could not have been more of a test, and it could not have shown more promise. Regardless of what happens in the last game, head coach Marco Sturm needs to use his first point as teaching tape for what Hagens’ intangibles need to look like.
Leave a Reply