Block Party | Brandon Hagel

Greg Wolf and Braydon Coburn are joined by Lightning forward Brandon Hagel on this episode of the Block Party Podcast.

Watch and stream Lightning games and more behind-the-scenes content all season long on Bally Sports and the Bally Sports app. http://BallySports.com/TampaBayLightning

Join the Thunder:
http://tampabaylightning.com
Tweets by TBLightning
http://instagram.com/tblightning

#tampabaylightning #gobolts

Bolts Nation welcome to another episode of bolts block party live powered by our friends here at highi IPA uh Kobe I think uh We’ve kept our word all season long when we said we were going to go big or go home with these live episodes we started it with

Julian Breeze then we brought in Hedy Nikki Paul Steven Stam Co and now one of the absolute hottest players in the National Hockey League Brandon heel is here now hags uh we have to ask because we’ve asked actually yeah yeah huge huge shut yeah we got to we have a block party

Tradition I don’t know if hags if you know about this but it uh it’s just started but we like to start every episode with the national anthem so we’re just going to stand up real quick and uh we’re going to let you sing it okay good luck all right all right so I

Don’t know if you guys were able to watch new beginnings and and hegs told a story about his dad at one of the games his Junior games his dad sang the national anthem and it was kind of on a bet or something like that so we thought

Maybe that you could sing it for us here today just to see your singing voice yeah wrong Anthem wrong Anthem well we could do the Canadian if you really had to all right all right listen H thanks for joining us um we like to call the bolts block party bump

Uh which has happened in the last I’d say 10 to 12 guys that we’ve had on the show they’ve come on the show and then they end up scoring a goal or getting the points the very next game and then chaffy just on last week and he does it

Again so tomorrow obviously we’re going to be all eyes on you no pressure you know it’s not like the Streak still going it is so no pressure on you tomorrow night but congratulations uh on all the success so far we also want to remind you guys that the question cards

Now that you know hags is here we want you guys to uh have a chance to ask questions so at the end of the uh the podcast we’ll give you guys a chance to submit those and we will ask those questions for you before we get toor and

There’s there’s no dumb questions like I’m an exhibit a of that right here so please please give your questions so sasi we know that you Kobe have such a relationship to the Saskatoon community in sasy boys is there any sort of relationship whether that’s a camp you

Played in or coached at with the Hegel family and the Kobes is is like is that at all well actually I baby no I didn’t baby no he’s kind of like part-time a part uh born in Saskatchewan but raised in Alberta right yeah correct yeah I was

Uh only Saskatchewan uh pretty well till I was one but my entire family is still back there so I had there I had that way every summer but uh so no there’s no Six Degrees of Separation we would gladly adopt him we’ll just put that now uh Brandon I I feel like you

Know for being such really a newcomer to our organization I think that we’ve really gotten to see into your life you’ve quickly become a fan favorite like super quick here here and how important uh your family is and your upbringing and and we were all privileged to be able to watch uh the

Bolts beginning episode and and the recharge that we just saw that dropped today and got to see that your grandparents were here by the way Dorothy and Ray fantastic your grandma is amazing I love to see uh them here at the game and how engaged they are but

How important the family Dynamic is for you and and in your journey uh it’s pretty remarkable and I think we I can speak for all of us we thank you for allowing us to get that glimpse into your life but talk to us about that whole bolts beginning episode and going

Back home and being able to you know showcase your friendships and your family to all of us to Boltz Nation yeah I think for myself family is a big part of my life uh obviously lucky enough to have a little niece and a little nephew um a younger sister and a older brother

And um family’s the most important thing for me so I thought uh when we go do bolts Beginnings let’s get everyone taste of that and that was uh kind of the way we went with it and it also be able to show a little of my town there’s

Not much there but uh there was a bit of it to show um but yeah um like I said family is a huge part of my life and um obviously you guys are a huge part of my life as well supporting me every single

Day so um it was my privilege to be able to show show you guys a little bit of um what I’m all about and I mean your dad he he gets real emotional when he talks about you and and the journey and I love to see that honestly cuz I miss my dad

But it’s amazing to see how much love he has for you and and the hard work that he puts you through uh you know making sacrifices for you and sending you off so that you could develop your game and but it’s amazing to see how he’s engaged

With our fan base and being miked up with your grandparents and stuff it’s it’s pretty cool but talk to us a little bit about that relationship with your dad and how much he means to you yeah he means uh obviously the world for me um growing up obviously it wasn’t easy with

Uh with me traveling everywhere my brother traveling everywhere but my dad was with me since day one and um he always made it to every practice every game um he’d do three games a day sometimes if if my sister decided to play it depended on the day but um yeah

Uh me and him really close obviously and uh I think he loves the mic a little bit more than I do they they good man they’re like they got that Superstar movie star kind of thing about them they were it seemed like by the end of those episodes your buddies and your family

They were craving the camera right a little bit you watch it yeah I watched it I I don’t love um hearing myself talk sometimes or hearing people talk about me uh sure but yeah I watched it and um it was funny obviously my dad um loved

It my brother he was a little dicey at the start I thought he was going to be the good one but I I when I was watching it you know what I thought the first thing I thought is holy man Brandon haggles got a lot of best friends really was like every new

Player every new person they brought on to the show was like and this is my best friend I was like dude you got you’re like a popular dude yeah yeah I guess I mean I just moved all over the place when I was a younger kid I went from um

In high school I went from Grade 9 10 11 12 at four different schools so um was able to meet a ton of people and um obviously I love to stick close with them I never want to get that uh um you’re too good now so um I want to keep

All those guys tight that’s a huge part of me just like my family is hey so what about like you you moved away super young and and we’ve covered that a little bit but was that hard like I imagine it was was there ever times when

You were homesick and you’re like why am I doing this or was your your eye always on the prize like this is going to get me to the next level yeah I mean um my first year I moved away I remember at one point um I called my dad and my mom

I’m like I don’t know I don’t know if this is for me um I was home sick and I got homesick since I was a little kid so um it was one of those things you go to the grandparents in three or four days is good enough for me and I’ll I’ll take

My own bed with my family but uh yeah over the years um it was hard my first year and then uh you get comfortable you get uh great bill at family and I was fortunate enough to to have one of those and um they over over time uh it got a

Lot better see I know like that’s different in the hockey world because I know in the high school football World right they really kind of shun away from people moving so that they’re in a district or they’re able to play in a certain uh group or or a league uh I

Feel like that’s different in the hockey world if you were able to move and go live with a different family so you were closer to those environments like is that I mean it seems like that’s totally different from the high school football World Am I Wrong in that assessment well

And you have to remember like kind of places where Brandon and Me grew up like it’s fairly rule you know we’re kind of a ways from a center like I know you you uh went to Fort sukatan to play Triple A uh it was a similar situation for me

Like you know my my parents couldn’t drive hour plus for me to go practice and play with another team I actually had to move away for that to happen yeah yeah it was uh that was the hardest part but uh um it was I was fortunate enough

That I only played an hour and a half down the road also so it wasn’t it wasn’t too far so they were able to come whenever I really needed them to be there um so that definitely helped a lot it wasn’t like I couldn’t come every 6

Months it was uh my dad obviously would make most weekends and would be able to hang out with them for a bit family is so important so let’s fast forward obviously we kind of know the journey how you got here you signed that 8-year deal back in August of 2023 absolutely

Amazing yeah give him the man some love give his flowers so Brandon what does that do for your mindset knowing that you know you’re locked into a city for almost the next decade chapter of your life what does that do for you when you hear that

Yeah for me um I’ll be 34 and hopefully have a family and some kids but uh other than that no it’s it’s uh incredible I think my journey to the NHL was uh not the easiest and not the one uh people take all the time but for myself uh to

Solid solidify myself in a city like this with fans like this um I’ve never thought I would come to Florida after coming from Canada and have a fan base like this it’s incredible and I’m uh super grateful for that and um no better place to live either obviously um Tampa

Bay it doesn’t get much better than this heg talk us through the expans through the extension like everything that kind of led up to it I guess maybe the conversations were you thinking about maybe exploring somewhere else or was your mind always set on staying here and

Kind of how that whole conversation with Julian went played out yeah it was uh it happened over the matter 3 days um I didn’t I always wanted to stay here um it’s a winning culture here and I think we’re going to be really good over many many years obviously the core group you

Guys uh that Tampa has here is in incredible hockey players and that’s something you look at so right from the beginning it was um I wanted to be here and I wanted to be here for a long time and um it was weird it was I didn’t

Think anything was coming I know uh Julian and and my agent had a conversation it was kind of uh we’ll we’ll just wait till things kind of play out a little bit and um so myself it was focus on the year and focus on being the

Best of my abilities I guess you could say and one random day he wanted to get it done over the weekend so um for myself it was a pretty easy decision I didn’t it didn’t take long and um I’m grateful I’m here for eight more years

So so are we yeah so are we 100% so talking about those elite players uh I had our buddy Brian Burns put together some statistics where you stand currently cuz I don’t know if you ever get this data so let us be the ones to bestow this upon you so this is

Currently some stats on Mr Hegel here well he he might be like a Stam Coast guy he might might stats stat you know your stats good luck so well we got to ask all right so your 14 game point streak uh it’s tied for fourth longest

In the NHL this season obviously we know you didn’t hit it but then you got it one the next night but that’s absolutely remarkable to be in that category this season your 54 even strength points are tied with Austin Matthews for fifth most in the NHL currently ahead of panan mner

Neander and JT Miller four of those guys were NHL Allstars by the way I just wanted to point that out back-to-back seasons of 60 plus points and we still have a lot of hockey to play unbelievable you’re currently 12th in the National Hockey League for even

Strength goals with 21 you are tied for second in the NHL currently with empty net goals with five pretty aw there hustler hustler right uh where we at he ranks second in the NHL currently for empty net points with eight leads the lightning and is tied for 13 in the NHL

With penalties drawn that’s an interesting one ranks tied for fifth in the NHL for goal scored by a wrist shot with 21 and your average ice time this season 19 minutes 23 seconds a career high unbelievable hegs of all those stats what what jumps out of your what

Surprises you the most about him what Sur a yeah is there anything that surprises you or no um yeah I mean uh a lot of them to be honest I I love this humble attitude like I I just show up put my skates on

And uh you know do a lot of good things on yeah I mean um obviously it’s nice to hear sometimes but at the same time there’s some pretty special names in that in that category and um for myself it’s just a privilege to be with those

Guys I go out there and work my hardest every single night and that’s obvious my goal to to be up there with those guys even though um we got a ton of those guys on our team so the one that jumps out to me is penalties drawn and uh I

Want to talk about that you know when I think of guys drawing penalties I think of guys that are you know can get under the skin of their opponents a little bit I feel like you have that element and uh and and when I watch you you play with a

Lot of energy but you’re not not afraid to talk out there and you seem like you might get under guys skins a little bit with some chirps and stuff like that is that is that how you a good description of your game out there a little bit yeah

A little bit but usually when I’m saying something I’m not sure what I’m saying to be honest I love when I’m asking that question you’re like licking your lips you’re like you were miked up on so we did hear you are pretty vocal on the bench I mean chirping at the guys

You know making sure you you’re being heard you’re encouraging you’re chirping at the refs a little bit so you’re pretty vocal out there I mean I and I think those are quality of leadership I mean what do you feel makes a good leader yeah I think for myself when it

Comes to that type of stuff it just gives me engagement to the hockey game um it it pulls me into the fight and hopefully I’m pulling other guys into the fight as well I think that’s only really reason if I’m not talking um probably not playing well to be honest

So um but for myself yeah that’s just a part of my game I’m I’m emotional I’m competitive I want to win and um I guess that that’s a little bit of me showing that talk to us about how your role has uh developed you know in the continuity

That you’re currently having with the lines that you’re on yeah I uh Shuffle around here and there but obviously Tony incredible player and uh we know what our job is out there and obviously getting the opportunity to play with um the leading Point guy in the league is

Uh put your stick on the ice and good things are going to happen usually so is that the key to playing with COV because you know not always you do good players are able to have chemistry with other good players and it seems like you do have chemistry with kucherov is there

Certain keys that you have to do when you were playing with that guy yeah I think for myself I know when I came into the NHL I always wanted to play my goal was to always play I want to play a lot of minutes just as everyone else does on

The ice and I knew it’s very very hard to be a skill guy in the NHL there’s very few of them there’s very um high high and guys like Nikita COV and bra Point Steven Stam Coast those guys are Hall of Famers they’re going to do many

Things and for myself I knew if I wanted to have the opportunity to play with those guys it was go out there work as hard as you can and get the puck back and good things are going to happen and that’s kind of what I do and obviously

Um it show it shows a little bit that’s why I can play with those guys I think for myself it’s getting pucks back and getting to the best getting it in the hands of the best player on the ice and um he’s going make stuff happen what do

You feel you’re doing cuz again we’ve all heard it that the success really comes from the stuff you’re doing off the ice right and the stuff you’re doing behind the scenes and everybody talks about Nikita kucherov and his work ethic and how much work he puts in the stuff

You don’t see what are some of those things that you’ve adapted or some of those things you you personally have also adapted into your game um yeah I mean getting to play with guys like that you kind of just watch what they do and the little things that they do on the

Ice and you can kind of grow off of those things whether it’s um the way he shoots the puck is incredible he can shoot the puck when his hips are facing the the net and the Puck’s three feet behind them not many people notice that

But that’s an very hard thing to do and the the things he does I mean you just try those in practice obviously I got a few years left before I get there because um it’s funny I’ll go out there sometimes and work on the shot and I’m

Like oh man this is tough like maybe I should just move on to something else I don’t know if I’m getting it to that level but yeah just just like I said picking up off the leadership of those guys stammer H um cooch pointer um those

Are guys I look up to I’ve looked up to before I was even in an HL so um I just continue do that today I got another kind of nerd hockey question and I get to ask it because I’m a host of the podcast but uh you’re you’re play Winger

Did you ever play center were you ever a centerman or were you always straight Winger all the way through up um pretty much straight Winger the whole time I played when I was younger in like um I don’t know what they call now U6 u15 um

Stuff like that but as soon as I got to the junior level I played on the wing and um ever since then I’ve played there so you’ve obviously played with some of our younger guys too like obviously Mitchell chaffy kroer lillberg uh how do you see those guys currently fitting

Into the game into the system that what things are you’re seeing yourself yeah they’re incredible it’s it’s not easy um I can speak from getting traded here it wasn’t easy coming up to a winning team and a team that’s just had so much success over the last decade um it’s

Nerve-wracking it’s um trying to get in fit in not knowing many people um these guys are doing incredible obviously Lily um few big hits out there that’s always fun to watch that’s yeah man that’s how you get the fans attention um chaffy he’s been incredible that guy um works

Hard and you can tell that he’s a competitor and wants it and um cow obviously um he’s doing incredible things he’s great at moving the puck shooting the puck getting things out and um those are good things to see from our perspective and I’m sure from fans perspective so with the trade deadline

Being I guess Friday MH is this year kind of different for you than it’s been in the past you know you you have your extension and you’re not kind of looking over your shoulder wondering am I going to be playing somewh different tomorrow yeah it was uh it’s funny because um I

Was probably doing this the day before I left Chicago I had no idea I was getting traded I remember the coach saying that uh something along the lines if you trade Rand and Hegel then I don’t know what kind of rebuild we’re having so I’m like oh I’m

Fine had a great night couple more months on my leas thank you had a couple more uh had a good sleep that night finished morning skate and uh I remember it was someone called me in and I’m like just thinking to myself I’m getting ready to go on the

Road and I get called in he goes uh come with me and I’m like what I’m like I look at him I’m like traded he goes like all right well I go up there Say by and he goes uh yeah we’ve traded you but we can’t tell you where I’m like but you’re

Going to have a good chance of winning Stanley Cup so I’m like all right okay like I guess um so I go home and sit there for a couple hours and I think it was my mom that called me and she’s like you’re going to Tampa I’m like oh where

Didd you hear that so your your mom told you where you were getting traded yeah so how where did she find out yeah just the internet the Twitter the Twitter verse we can’t tell you but we can tell everybody on the internet everybody in their net just hold this secret from

Brandon Hegel for a little bit longer here yeah yeah and uh obviously at that time I’m like oh man there’s some there’s some freezing cold places out there that I wouldn’t want to go but uh we’ll see I guess so um I had the Jitters for a couple hours there and

Then uh found out it was T I mean just came off of back toback Stanley Cup so um what a better place to go did your stomach drop a little bit when you when you kind of knew like oh boy and then they told you you got traded was that

Like a stomach drop moment for yeah it was it was um I’ve never been traded in my life I played for Red Deer for four years I came to Chicago was there for um three or four years and um so it was a com comfortability thing and had the

Time where takes a little bit and then usually when you get traded to a team you know a few people and I didn’t know a single guy so um that was tough but um obviously some of the guys in that dress room and there’s a reason why they win

Win today is because of those guys in that dress room their leadership and welcoming welcoming guys so everything happens for a reason my man I believe that when I got traded I went in my closet and I looked at my winter coats and I’m like I’m not going to need you

I’m not going to need you shorts swimsuits yes here we go love it man so let’s switch it up a little bit it seems uh also you got a love for the game of golf and it seems you’re golf game is pretty solid right and we’ve heard that

We’ve got a pretty good Golf Group here uh with the bolts so my question is not really so much golf related but I need to know what are the mandatory snacks in hag’s golf cart um probably a Michael Ultra okay and um that’s like a power raid right

Yeah and uh probably a hot dog at the nth hot dog glizzies yeah okay healthy on the course got to love it man Castle okay yeah yeah sure did man so you obviously we were talking before CU again you said you got here you didn’t really know anybody and you didn’t

Really know good places to eat around Tampa like a good spot was you’d walk around and find a Subway so you’ve had some time now in Tampa what are some of your you know things you like to do off the eyes or some of the spots you like

To frequent um yeah I mean to be honest we have a lot of guys on the team that have uh kids and stuff like that so it’s not easy for them so so it’s usually me and Tony finding our way around and um I don’t I don’t know we go um I

Mean Ban’s always nice um but to be honest we don’t we don’t go out a ton for dinners you get uh you go on the road and you have that every night before a game usually you got to find your way around to dinner so um when you

Get home it’s kind of let’s relax and maybe maybe a home-cooked meal maybe I can text one of the guys see if they’re they’re willing to invite me over make me play is Celli still cooking up his chicken parmesan or is that still the table one

Every year one every year okay it’s like Christmas dinner okay I all right so do we have questions brezer I know we we’ve got some from the crowd we obviously want to get to some of your guys questions before we get into fact or fiction oh we got quite a

Few here Brandon are you ready here we go I think so Madison age nine what is the best prank you ever pulled on a teammate oh man that is a good one um I’m not much of a a prankster myself but uh I remember one year we

Were in Edmonton actually and um this is when I was on Chicago but uh I think everyone knows the name of Mark Andre flurry I I come out I um put my getting to go home from morning skate and I put my uh my um suit back on and I go to put

My hand in my pocket and they’re tied up with I I don’t know what he did did but uh I couldn’t get in there so um that was a tough one on myself but for myself I’m not much of a prankster I uh probably the one getting pranked to be

Honest all right good answer Jessica and Kristen want to know what’s your favorite thing to do on your days off days off um if there’s a couple days in between I think it’s it’s golfing um that’s always fun it gets gets you outside gets you in the Sun but uh other

Than that I’m probably rotten on my couch did you hit any uh courses in the last couple days I know we’ve had a few days off here no I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t this the last couple days but uh maybe catching fish no I caught nothing

I caught nothing okay well that was one of my Factor fixtion questions Kobe just ruined it man all right Trevor wants to know before you were a bolt who was your favorite and least favorite bolts player to play against oh great question Trevor who do you like playing yeah yeah oh wow um

They I hated playing them to be honest cuz we just lost every time and they were way too good um so you just going in hopefully you got out of their dash one maybe even if you’re lucky but uh fa favorite player to play against um probably cooch because you just got a

Front row seat to it all right hopefully you weren’t line lined up against and least at the time I would have to say hey man that guy’s big and stick and that was just hard love it all right Jessica wants to know uh who on the team

Would you not want to be locker room DJ before or after a game great question the DJ right now Mikey [Laughter] asant what is Mikey asam’s uh playlist sounding like like what’s he got on that oh um it’s like a raveen there I don’t know it’s it’s a lot sometimes what would hegs

Have as the DJ what what kind of music I know you and went to Drake uh yeah I mean I’m not I don’t know music very well but if you play a song I’ll know it okay but uh I’m I like country I’m I’m I’m a country like that’s yonas chaffy

They’re all country guys man love it all right do you miss living with Tony yeah it was fun it was fun that felt very to admit right there no it was good I uh had a little buddy but I also live in a condo so it was either we were on the couch

Or yeah we were just with each other a lot yeah say the least all right Joyce wants to know if gas Barilla was not on a game day please NHL can we not no whole another conversation would you go as a spectator to gas Barilla or would

You actually want to be on the lightning float throwing beads oh I don’t know if this is a trick question or not it’s not either any way you do gas real is the right way so all right I would love to be a spectator I

Haven’t been able to do it yet so I would I I’m just waiting for the day that we don’t have to somay the NHL won’t schedule a game Som we’ll get him dressed as a pirate I think was dressed that was awesome all right and finally

Cheryl wants to know have you lost any teeth and bonus question can I hang out with your grandma Dorothy yeah you’re she would love that she would eat that up but yeah I’ve lost uh two or three yeah okay well let’s hope there’s no

More to be lost for so here we go I love how that answer is very vague I think I lost two or three like like most people would know when they lost teeth you know very specific question all right hgs this is uh actually one more actually before players are different before we

Get to fact or fiction and again we obviously know the nickname Bagel if you could create your own Bagel flavor creation and I don’t know if that’s a delicacy in morville but what would be the and hego flavor creation of a bagel flavor creation wow is it like a

Jalapeno nacho because you play spicy or anything like anything like that just trying to give you some ideas I don’t love SP spice but I like the idea we going there um for myself yeah man what’s some flavor combinations you enjoy I just [Laughter] prob um no I’d probably go with just

Honestly I’m I’m pretty simple guy but I would just go I love uh Bagel right out of the toaster and then you have the melted peanut butter on there that’s that’s my go-to maybe like a peanut butter infused Bagel flavor I don’t think they have that

Right now so a is peanut butter all right here we go Factor fiction these are literally true or false maybe some of these are the details might be off a little bit so it’s either fact or fiction here presented by our friends at highly IPA here we go Brandon Hegel if

You were not a hockey player you’d be either a teacher or maybe a forklift operator true which one um cuz you’re good at the forklift we saw pretty good yeah I’m decent with it but I I wanted to be a teacher and what like uh what

Age group what subject you think You’ be selling at um probably high school really yeah like General Studies or like History Science yeah I would go I would go more history I was I was hoping to eventually get a hockey gig out of it to

Be honest but so I I’d start history and hopefully I could just move over to gym class Fair assessment all right here we go Factor fiction in 2021 as part of the IIHF World Championships in lva you represented Team Canada and you guys nabbed a silver medal fact or fiction

That’s uh Fiction it’s not true why we want a gold medal gold medal baby the man owns a gold medal you threw this next one off but he still has to answer it oh sorry about that it’s all right you do it from time to time Factor fiction Brandon Hegel you

Caught the second biggest fish at coup’s catch fiction did you catch the 10th biggest fish in coup’s catch no I just I was just just the bait really not the fisherman better on the golf course than on the uh on the waters there Kobe all right and our final

Unless you have one it’s always awkward when you have your captain and you’re like yeah hey thanks buddy appreciate it 3 hours on the water thank you nothing all right final Factor fixtion unless you have one please I screw up them up Brandon Hegel you can name at least

Three of the five teams who have never played in a Stanley Cup Final there’s five but three have never played in a final fiction you can can’t you can’t name three no can you guess one expansion oh Seattle got one do you guys know the others nope Columbus Seattle Arizona Winnipeg

Minnesota you can take that back to uh Paulie cuz he’s always throwing weird stats out there in the I’m not a huge stat guy I don’t know much to be I just go up there well you know your stats now you can take this with you you can brag

In the locker room B Nation how about some love the man is one of the hottest players in the National Hockey League right now thank you to our friends here at highi IPA for powering this shindig and uh it’s Hall of Fame week this week so a lot of exciting things happening uh

And we thank you for taking your time out to huge thank you because you know we know you game night you play tomorrow so taking the time is uh we really appreciate it and I hope you guys had a good time as well thank you so much

Brandon hego right here party one more live show coming up very soon guys stay tuned thank you so much