What top Canadiens prospect Michael Hage needs to improve to get to the NHL

For as good as Michael Hage has been this season, there might be some things he needs to work on in order to reach the next level.

The Montreal Canadiens prospect has had a fruitful start to the 2025-26 season. He’s playing for the top team in the NCAA, the Michigan Wolverines, and was one of Canada’s better players at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship. With the Wolverines, the 19-year-old sits seventh in the country with 30 points, second on the team behind T.J. Hughes. In Minnesota a few weeks ago, Hage led Team Canada with 15 points in seven games, though the team fell to Czechia in the semifinals and ultimately won the bronze medal.

All signs are pointing toward the Mississauga native becoming an NHLer in the future, but there might be certain parts of his game that he’d like to improve on.

When appearing in a special edition of The Sheet with host Jeff Marek, Hage explained what he believes he needs to focus on improving in order to reach the NHL.

Jeff Marek: “How close do you think you are to the NHL? Montreal Canadiens fans are drooling over you joining them maybe as early as at the end of the season.”

Michael Hage: “It’s a hard question to answer… I’m confident in my game. I don’t think it’s too far away. But I think there’s still a lot of areas that I have to continue to work on to be effective once I step to that level. Obviously, it’s such a huge jump and every guy on your team, on every other team, is pretty much established themselves as full-time guys. So yeah, I think I’m close but there’s still a lot of room to get better like always.”

Jeff Marek: “What do you need to work on?”

Michael Hage: “I think just continuing to work on my body and my play off the puck. I think that’s the biggest thing. You realize how strong guys are and how good guys are off the puck and puck battles. I just have to continue to work with (Michigan coach Brandon Naurato) on that stuff.”

You can see the full conversation here…