Which drafted college prospects might make jump to NHL this spring?

Now that the NHL trade deadline has come and gone, there are plenty of teams either well outside the playoff picture or so securely in a playoff position that the rest of the regular season will feel a bit like playing out the string. There are, however, some teams that could be looking forward to an exciting injection of young talent, no matter their place in the standings.

With the NCAA men’s hockey season set to finish up over the weekend, some highly touted college prospects could be ready to debut with their NHL teams. Players such as Montreal Canadiens prospect Michael Hage, Philadelphia Flyers prospect Porter Martone, or Boston Bruins prospect James Hagens could all be seen in the NHL before the season’s end.

On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Colby Cohen were joined by Daily Faceoff’s prospect analyst Steven Ellis to discuss which college players could be ready to jump to the NHL this season.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Any other names you’re kind of watching here as the college season winds down? Some guys who might look to make the jump to the NHL?

Steven Ellis: Michael Hage is the guy that everyone is looking at. He’s put up outstanding numbers, and I think we also just know that he can play with truly elite players. We saw him at the World Juniors and the way that he was able to work with Gavin McKenna out there, it was pure magic. With 15 points, he was definitely in the conversation to win tournament MVP. I really like what he’s able to do. Could he be the number-two center for Montreal immediately next year? Yeah, I think so. I think there’s definitely an argument there.

I think the big question here, is Porter Martone going to take the next step forward? I really like his game. Good numbers, someone who can be a bit hot and cold, and we saw that specifically at the World Juniors. I there’s some questions as to whether or not he should wait another year. Obviously there’s a lot of eyes on what’s happening here with Trey Augustine. He’s been just downright dominant in college the last couple years. Does Detroit have space for him right away? Sebastian Cossa has to be in the NHL full-time next year for that to really make sense. And then there’s James Hagens, and I know there’s some concerns about him being more of a perimeter player for Boston College, but he’s also the type of guy that, if Boston makes the playoffs this year, you throw him in. Any time you get a guy who’s productive in college, we tend to see them go have these great ends to the season in the NHL, and partly it’s because they don’t play as many games. When you talk about a guy playing under 40 games, they’re a lot more rested than the guys who have been through that 75-, 80-, 82-game grind in the NHL.

You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Friday’s episode here…