The Montreal Canadiens have selected center Michael Hage with the No. 21 overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.
Blackjack! Avec le 21e choix au total, les Canadiens sélectionnent Michael Hage!
Blackjack! The Canadiens select Michael Hage at No. 21!#GoHabsGo | #RepêchageLNH | #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/HO3CDulSVj— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) June 29, 2024
The Mississauga, Ontario product spent the entirety of his 2023-24 season with the Chicago Steel in the United States Hockey League, where he had 33 goals and 42 assists for 75 points in 54 regular season games, which led his team in scoring and was fourth in the league in scoring.
The Steel finished sixth in the Eastern Conference with a 27-28-3-4 record, and were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in three games by the Green Bay Gamblers. Hage had 2 goals and 2 assists for 4 points in 2 games in the playoffs.
Daily Faceoff’s own prospect expert Steven Ellis projected Hage to go 20th overall in his Top 120 Draft Rankings. Ellis had this to say about him in his prospect rankings:
“Hage had a huge first full season with the Steel, scoring 33 goals and 75 points in 54 games,” Ellis said. “It’s exactly what we expected from him after his great U-16 season with the Toronto Jr. Canadiens, and it helped him solidify his status as a first-round pick. Hage was one of the NHL’s best pure forwards with a combination of size, great skating, and tremendous puckhandling. As far as pure centers go, Hage is one of the best available this year. I’d like to see him add more muscle mass, but I think he’s going to end up being one of the best prospects taken in the second half of the first round.”
Montreal finished the 2023-24 NHL season in 28th place, missing the playoffs.
