7-time Man of the Year Hagel retires

Kyle Hagel, the 2015 recipient of the AHL’s Yanick Dupre Memorial Award and a seven-time winner of his team’s IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year award, has retired to accept a position as an assistant coach with the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League.

Hagel, 32, played 373 games over parts of nine seasons in the AHL. In five different cities over each of the last seven seasons — Rockford in 2011, Peoria in 2012, Hamilton in 2013, Portland in 2014 and Charlotte in 2015, 2016 and 2017 — Hagel was selected as his team’s winner of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the local community and charitable organizations.

In 2014-15, Hagel was named the winner of the Yanick Dupre Memorial Award from among all 30 Man of the Year finalists that season.

A native of Hamilton, Ont., Hagel totaled 15 goals and 28 assists along with 1,001 penalty minutes in his AHL career.