Carl Hagelin
“Power and speed be hands and feet.”
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
By the time Carl Hagelin arrived in Washington in February
2019 from Los Angeles for a pair of draft picks, he has assembled a rather
unremarkable record in the regular season against the Caps: 29 games, 4-6-10,
minus-4 in about 15 minutes a game. The
playoffs were a quite different matter.
Hagelin actually appeared in more postseason games against the Caps (35)
than he did in the regular season in his pre-Caps career and posted a scoring
line of 6-9-15, plus-5, with one game-winning goal, that coming in a 3-2
Pittsburgh Penguin win over the Caps in Game 3 of the 2016 Eastern Conference
semi-final. Coming to the Caps, the club
was hoping his speed and ability to fill in as a capable penalty killer would
bear dividends, but there was also the experience of facing him in high-stakes
games that suggested a clutch player, too.
In 78 regular season games as a Capital, Hagelin has been a
somewhat surprising contributor on offense, going 11-25-36, plus-19, although
his 0.46 points per game is roughly consistent with what he posted in 266 games
as a New York Ranger (0.49) and as a Penguin (0.43).
This season, his first with the Caps, Hagelin got off to a
bumpy start, opening the season without a point in his first four games and
only going 0-7-7 in his first 27 contests, going without a goal on 39 shots
over that span. It was not until his 28th
game of the year that he posted his first goal.
But starting with that game against Columbus, a 2-1 Caps win on December
27th, Hagelin went 8-10-18, plus-7, over his last 31 games of the
season a 21-goal/48-point pace per 82 games.
Fearless’ Take…
Hagelin’s home/road consistency this season was almost
spooky:
- Home: 4-8-12, plus-4, 8 PIMs, 4 even strength goals, 1 game-winning goal, 14:21 in ice time per game
- Road: 4-9-13, plus-8, 8 PIMs, 3 even strength goals, 1 game-winning goal, 14:18 in ice time per game
He was the go-to penalty killing forward for the Caps, and
he was quite adept at it. There were 55
forwards in the NHL who appeared in at least 50 games this season and averaged
more than two minutes of shorthanded ice time per game. Only four of them were on ice for fewer power
play goals against than Hagelin (as it turned out, teammate Nic Dowd was one of
them), who was on ice for 13 power play goals against in 58 games, averaging
2:55 in shorthanded ice time per game.
And, Hagelin really came on over the latter part of the
season offensively. In his last 22
games, he had consecutive games without a point only once, and he went 7-9-16
(tied for fourth on the team in points over that span), plus-7.
Cheerless’ Take…
Hagelin might not be expected to be an offensive
contributor, although he was at times this season. One thing he could not do
that might affect his offensive contributions is draw penalties. He drew only five penalties in 58 games while
averaging over 14 minutes per game.
Odd Hagelin Fact… “Three” seemed to be a magic number with
Hagelin. In 17 games in which he
recorded three of more shots on goal, the Caps were 13-2-2.
Odd Hagelin Fact II… You would expect a player with a minus
rating generally is on the losing team in most games. In 12 games this season when Hagelin finished
minus-1 or worse, the Caps were 6-5-1.
Odd Hagelin Fact III… Three Capitals registered at least one
shot on goal in each of the last 18 games of the season – John Carlson, Jakub
Vrana, and Hagelin.
Game to Remember… February 23, 2020. Scoring goals is nice, scoring them against a
former team is nicer. Carl Hagelin
experienced that in late February when the Caps hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins
at Capital One Arena in a Sunday matinee game. The visitors had the better of it over the
first two periods, taking a 2-1 lead into the second intermission. But just 76 seconds into the third period, Tom
Wilson tied the game. Three minutes
later the Caps had the lead, thanks to Hagelin.
Richard Panik started the play by moving the puck from below the
Penguins’ goal line to John Carlson at the right point. Carlson’s drive was gloved down by goalie
Matt Murray, but not controlled. Lars
Eller got a whack at the loose puck, but he was foiled. The puck rested at the top of the paint,
where Hagelin jumped on it, poking it past Murray to give the Caps a 3-2 lead
4:41 into the period.
After Evgeni Malkin tied the game once more, T.J. Oshie put
the Caps ahead one last time at the 10:40 mark.
Hagelin put the icing on the cake in the last minute. Nicklas Backstrom blocked a Penguin shot and
fed the puck to Oshie, who banked it off the left wing boards to Backstrom
exiting the zone. Backstrom fed the puck
ahead to Hagelin on a breakaway to an empty net, and Hagelin did the rest,
sealing a 5-3 Caps win. It was Hagelin’s
first and only two-goal game of the season.
Game to Forget… January 11, 2020. Some games are just one’s you aren’t in. Such was the case when the Caps hosted the
New Jersey Devils in mid-January. It was
an odd game, one that had the Caps putting 12 shots on Devils’ goalie Louis
Domingue in the first period, but trailing on a Nico Hischier goal. Then, things got worse. New Jersey scored three times in the second
period – a pair at even strength and a shorthanded goal – rendering a Jakub
Vrana goal largely irrelevant. The
Devils added an empty net goal for a 5-1 win.
As for Carl Hagelin, he was on ice for three Devil goals, managed a single
shot on goal himself, and finished minus-3 in less than 13 minutes of
work. It was his worst plus-minus rating
of the season.
Postseason…
Hagelin had a poor postseason for the second year in a row
with the Caps. Last year, he was 0-1-1,
minus-1, in the Caps’ opening round loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. This season, things were arguably worse. Hagelin managed a single assist in eight
games of the round robin and first round loss to the New York Islanders,
recorded only four shots on goal, and averaged only 12:40 in ice time per game,
almost four fewer minutes than last season (16:33). The minus-4 rating tied his career worst for
a single postseason, the other instance coming in 2015, when he was minus-4 in
19 games for the New York Rangers. His
average ice time was second lowest in his career for a postseason, topping only
2017 when he averaged 12:09 in ice time for the Penguins. At least in that instance he had the pleasure
of winning a Stanley Cup in the process.
Looking Ahead…
The 2019-2020 season was the first year of a four-year/$11
million contract ($2.75 million salary cap hit) Hagelin has with the Caps. His season-plus in Washington has been a
matter of very different regular season and postseason results. He has shown a little regular season offensive
punch than might have been expected, but his postseason contributions have been
meager. When the Caps have been most
successful, getting production from the bottom six in the postseason has been
essential. If the Caps are going to be
making any more deep runs in the playoffs, Hagelin is likely to have to improve
on his postseason numbers.
In the end…
Among players in his age cohort (30-35) and salary cap range
($2.0-$3.5 million), Carl Hagelin looks like a bit of a bargain, based on this
past year’s results.
He is what the Caps need, especially since Jay Beagle departed for Vancouver
after the 2017-2018 season, a reliable penalty killer. Those numbers do not show up in individual
statistics very clearly, but the Caps having had a successful year on the
penalty kill point to his success in that role.
Now, if those playoff scoring numbers could just come up a bit.
Grade: B
Photo: Patrick Smith / Getty Images
