One Leafs trade target may be off the market after comment from head coach
Chicago Blackhawks forward, Brandon Hagel has been in trade rumours over the past couple of weeks and the 23-year-old forward has been linked to the Leafs on multiple occasions. The problem is, if Blackhawks Head Coach Derek King gets his way, the Blackhawks forward may be off the market.
Today, King was asked if the Hawks were shopping Hagel and he said the following:
"He better not be. Hags has gotta stay here."
Ultimately, the decision to whether or not Brandon Hagel is a Chicago Blackhawks after the March 21st trade deadline is up to acting General Manager, Kyle Davidson, not Derek King. King likely does have some input in the teams roster construction and his influence may be what keeps the 23-year-old in Chi-Town .
A big part of why Hagel is so valuable is that he plays a high-energy game, has shown the ability to score big goals this season (14 goals on the year so far) and carries a cap hit of just $1.5M.
If Hagel is off the market it means that the Toronto Maple Leafs will have to look elsewhere if they want to bolster their offence for the playoffs. The Leafs have also been linked to several wingers, including Anaheim's Rickard Rakell and Winnipeg's Andrew Copp, though neither carries a cap hit as modest as the one Hagel carries.
Kyle Dubas has some work ahead of him, but if there's one thing we know about Dubas, it's that when he does make a move, it's never the move that we saw coming.
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