Michael Hage

April 2024 – Hage is another riser on many boards, as he has found more and more consistency in leveraging his elite tools to create sustained offense at the USHL level as the season has progressed. His powerful and agile skating paired with high-end handling skill and on-puk composure make allow him to dominate junior competition in transition. Offensively, too, he can turn nothing into something in the blink of an eye; unpredictable and adaptable on-puck, and riding defenders’ blind spots adeptly to get himself to high-danger positions in and around the slot. He refined his defensive work-rate and reads early this season, and while his high-end projection hinges on the offensive skill, the defensive game is no longer the liability it once was. He can still fall victim to trying to do too much on his own, and a few years with the University of Michigan will certainly help him round out his game in needed ways, but beyond the Top 10 of the draft, few players can match his dynamic on-puck game and offensive upside. (April Rankings: #20) Sebastian High

February 2024 – Hage seems to have heard the music and has been red-hot since our last ranking. Having encountered every challenge a young athlete can take on and still improving to this degree is nothing short of remarkable. He has a real mastery of timing, spatial awareness and pressure that is quickly making him one of the more dynamic playmakers in the draft. It’s become a regular occurrence to see Hage make passes through both a backchecker and looming defenceman right and barrel the contact that follows. He seems to be reading play better in general, something that likely reflects his growing accustomed to the USHL pace. If he keeps trending in his current direction, I hope to see him land in undisputed first round territory, it would be a truly poetic way for him to wrap up his season. – David Saad

February rankings: 26th

November 2023 – Coming off of an injury that had him miss out playing with a stacked Chicago Steel team featuring Macklin Celebrini, Jayden Perron and Zam Plante among others, Hage has inherited a completely different, much less skilled and much less experienced team. Touted as a cerebral two-way forward in his D-1, Hage has been trying to take the brunt of Chicago’s offence on his shoulders to … mixed results. More often than not Hage can be found cheating for offence, falling behind on plays and struggling to think on his feet. However, the moments where things click are usually spectacular. Hage is an insanely talented dual-threat that has 1v5 jaw-dropping skill, but to stay in the first round conversation, he will need to figure out how to tap-in to that skill more consistently. – David Saad

November rankings: HM