Joined: Jul. 2019
Posts: 2,445
Likes: 546
Way too early to call the trade a backfire for Tampa. Hagel has had ~20 regular season games and one playoffs, in which he had little line consistency and played with a broken foot for half of it. Perhaps if Tampa uses him correctly this year, in a top 6 scoring line position rather than a 3rd line checking role, the kind of player he was in Chicago will be seen. 20 games is far from enough time to decide if a trade was a bust, and neither Katchouk nor Raddysh were anything special for Tampa. Raddysn has some potential if used correctly, something that Cooper was likely never to do, like it was for Marchassault and Verhaeghe in Tampa before him. The 1sts are what they are, but both should be very late, and while the '23 1st would likely be a very good prospect given it is a very deep draft, they still wouldn't have helped the big club until '24-'25 at best.
Brisebois may not have pulled the trigger on it had the cap been going up as normal, but with circumstances being what they are and knowing that at least one of Palat or Killorn was gone after this past season, getting a cost controlled asset with term was always going to be expensive. JBB felt acquiring Hagel gave them a better chance at a Cup in these next 2-3 seasons rather than 2 magic beans and 2 younger players that weren't really cutting it. Hagel did fine for the sub-optimal role he was asked to play, and Tampa came very close to the 3peat. I wish they could've kept Raddysh, just as I was frustrated when they let Verhaeghe walk as well. Cooper is very inflexible unfortunately when it comes to having younger but talented players crack the top 6 in favor of his "boys"(mainly speaking about Palat and Killorn here). Perhaps if either Verhaeghe or Raddysh would've had a more consistent chance in that kind of role, they'd still be with Tampa now, as they both showed flashes when they had the chance(of course whether that was because of who their linemates were or their own skill could be debated, although Verhaeghe has shown his talent with Florida).
I think that with the time Hagel has had, plus now healthy and with an offseason/training camp with the team, he will be far more effective player if given that top 6 role. Since Palat is gone, the spot is there for him next to Point and Kucherov, so hopefully Cooper doesn't make the mistake of saddling him on the checking line again. If he does, then yes, 40ish points is likely his ceiling and he'll be wasted. If he's given the chance in the top 6, I think he could definitely be a 55-60 point player, and if he meshes well with Point-Kuch(or Cirelli-Stamkos later if that's the plan), maybe more.