Man, what's gotten into Carl Hagelin lately?
The Swede is skating like he's a decade younger than his 29 years. There might be better players in the NHL, but few skate as well. And almost none as fast.
Hagelin has blazing speed that he's used effectively to make a name for himself at both ends of the ice. He can use it defensively to badger opponents into making errant passes like this one against the Capitals:
Or, like on this shorthanded breakaway on Friday against the Stars, he can leave even a Norris Trophy candidate like John Klingberg in his wake:
After a disappointing 2016-17 and a tough start to this season, Hagelin has finally rediscovered his game. He's been playing at levels not seen since the halcyon days of the HBK line in the spring of '16.
Since Jan. 7, he's recorded 12 points (four goals and eight assists) in 14 games. In the 42 games prior to that, he had just two goals and four assists. That, after scoring six goals and 16 assists all of last season.
So, maybe the better question is what's gotten out of Hagelin lately? A few strategic pounds put on in the off-season is all.
"To really be able to play, and to plan to play 100 games or more every year, I might come in heavier, and as the season goes on I lose a little bit of weight and can keep my skating," Hagelin told me. "Around Christmas I feel a little light and I feel a little more step to my game."
Hagelin has been a notoriously slow starter throughout his seven-year career but that Christmas timeline jibes with his career numbers (h/t to Brian Metzer of the Penguins Radio Network):
Carl Hagelin - want proof that he thrives in second half?
Career numbers Oct-Dec - 204 games - 34 goals - 41 assists - 75 points - .37 PPG
Career numbers January-April - 258 - 50 goals - 84 assists - 134 points - .52 PPG #Pens #NHL pic.twitter.com/YGQAC75Nd3
— Brian Metzer (@Brian_Metzer) February 10, 2018
Hagelin says that he usually sheds about six pounds over the first three months of the season -- in his younger days, he'd drop as much as 8-10 -- which allows his body to plateau at his playing weight of 186 pounds around midseason.
As for his skating ability, he credits that simply to his conditioning, diet and good genetics. In the summers he trains with his older brother, Bobbie, a former Swedish Elite League player turned fitness guru. Hagelin avoids eating dairy and gluten, because he's sensitive to both. And his father, Boris, played college hockey at Western Michigan, one of the first Europeans to play in the NCAA.
During the season, Hagelin says he does not do a lot with weights (bad on the back), but he jokes that he's much stronger in the legs than in his upper body. Then, looking over at an amused Ryan Reaves, who was listening in from his neighboring locker stall, Hagelin says, "I’m stronger than Reavo."
During his slow start this fall, Hagelin could have used fatigue -- the "F-bomb" the Penguins hated to hear -- as an excuse. After all, no one has played more hockey over the past seven seasons than Hagelin. He played in 73 playoff games with the Rangers between 2011-15 before coming to Pittsburgh, where he’s tacked on an additional 39 games over the past two postseasons.
But Hagelin never made excuses or let it slow him down. In fact, he might just be hitting his stride.
• The best thing that ever happened to Jake Guentzel might also be the worst thing.
Guentzel set the bar so high for himself last spring by scoring 13 goals in 25 playoff games, that it would be impossible to replicate. Ask John Druce about how that goes.
Last year, Guentzel’s regular-season shooting percentage was 19.8 followed by an absurd 25.0 in the playoffs. This year that percentage is down to 13.0.
Even before his demotion to the fourth line, the 23-year-old was particularly critical in his assessment of his season, saying the other day that “I don’t think I’ve been very good.”
No, he’s been OK. Even good at times. Therein lies the problem: There’s been little consistency from a production standpoint. Sixteen goals isn’t bad. It’s still tied for fourth on the Penguins, but he has just three in the last 18 games.
Mike Sullivan has gone out of his way to help Guentzel succeed, putting him back on the wing, placing him on the first power play and slotting him alongside Sidney Crosby. Perhaps a little tough love is the best thing for him.
Guentzel is an extremely intelligent player; he'll figure it out.
• No one should have been happier to see Matt Murray's brilliant 33-save performance in St. Louis than Jim Rutherford.
The GM told me on Monday that acquiring a veteran backup goalie is not on his to-do list at the trade deadline.
Murray’s numbers have been down this season and hadn’t improved much since returning to the team following the leave of absence that sidelined him for nearly all of January. It’s been a tough situation on all fronts.
Though he’s 4-0-1 since returning, Sunday's win was the first game that Murray started and finished while giving up one or fewer goals since Nov. 16 vs. Ottawa.
• Speaking of Ottawa, life comes at you fast in the NHL. Hard to believe it was only eight months and 19 days ago that the Senators were only this Chris Kunitz goal away from appearing in the Stanley Cup Final:
The Senators return to PPG Paints Arena tonight for the first time since being eliminated from the playoffs last season. They do so while 14 points out of a playoff spot and their season could be all but over before Valentine's Day.
The lesson in this for the Penguins? Enjoy these victories while they last. You never know how or when it's going to end.
• So I went to the Petersen Events Center to cover the Pitt-Louisville game on Sunday. Full disclosure: I'd never been there before, even during the Brandin Knight and DeJuan Blair days when the Panthers were a hotter ticket than the Penguins and more popular than the Pirates. Wow, such a great venue being wasted.
Pitt, an urban school, and Big East basketball were a perfect match. But, you know, money.
• Excuse me while I go watch some Olympic Athletes from Russia.