2025 NHL Draft: Bruins’ selection of James Hagens helps them earn solid marks in draft grades
Boston received overwhelmingly positive reviews of its first round selection, James Hagens.
The 2025 NHL Draft wrapped up on Saturday afternoon, and it was a fairly important one for the Bruins, who are in the middle of a roster overhaul that started at last season’s trade deadline.
Boston has been notoriously average — at best — at drafting in the past, but it also hasn’t possessed a top 10 pick in quite some time. So, weilding the No. 7 selection in this year’s draft, the Bruins were able to land what they hope is a prospect with bonafide star potential.
In total, Boston added seven prospects to its pipeline: James Hagens, William Moore, Liam Petterson, Cooper Simpson, Vashek Richards, Cole Chandler, and Kirill Yemelyanov.
Here’s how evaluators graded those picks.
First round grade: James Hagens
Nearly every NHL analyst gave the Bruins positive reviews for landing Hagens. He was considered a near-lock for the top-five after his time with the U.S NDTP. However, a slightly down year in his freshman campaign with Boston College allowed him to slide just out of that threshold, falling to Boston at No. 7.
Hagens played on arguably the deepest team in college hockey last season, so it isn’t surprising his numbers dipped slightly compared to the lofty expectations set for him.
How experts viewed the pick:
Hanna Stuart, Bleacher Report: A+
“This is a huge win for the Boston Bruins who, let’s face it, have not done a great job drafting in recent years,” Stuart wrote. “The Bruins are also in the middle of a rebuild (retool, whatever you want to call it), and having a brilliant facilitator like Hagens as a piece of that is a big step forward. You can trust him anywhere on the ice. Boston needs that.”
Stuart also noted that Hagens was still a point-per-game scorer his freshman year with the Eagles, which is impressive, and that his passing and playmaking abilities were highlighted thanks to the talent around him.
Corey Pronman, The Athletic: A-
“The Bruins had a clear need for high-end talent in their farm system and a pressing need for top center talent,” Pronman wrote. “In Hagens, they address both. He’s an electric skater, puck handler and passer. He becomes the clear top young talent in their organization, and despite how he’s been picked apart at times for his size and physicality, he projects as a potential top-line forward.”
Pronman gave Hagens a player comparison of William Nylander, which would be a huge win for Boston if he can be even close to the career trajectory of Nylander. Nylander has excelled in just about every area on the ice for the Toronto Maple Leafs for a number of years.
Talent tier: “Top of the lineup player”
Mary Clarke, USA Today: A
“It wasn’t that long ago when Hagens was considered the top prospect in this draft class,” Clarke wrote. “Despite his small size, Hagens has incredible skill and will likely end up as one of the better centers of this draft due to his creative and explosive play. This definitely feels like a steal for Boston, that’s for sure.”
Day 2 analysis:
Boston had some hits and misses on Day 2 of the draft based on early evaluations. That isn’t uncommon with a draft format like the NHL, where players are drafted at times 1-3 years before they even enter the professional pipeline via the AHL and ECHL.
Here’s which players might become steals for the Bruins, and which ones felt like reaches, based on experts’ analysis and NHL Draft big board rankings:
William Moore: possible steal
Moore was projected as high as a late first-round pick in some mock drafts, and his draft ranking hovered somewhere between the low-30s and mid-40s on most draft boards. So, snagging Moore at pick No. 51 feels like a win for Boston.
The Athletic top-50 ranking: 36
The Athletic talent tier: “Projected to play NHL games”
Sound of Hockey big board top-500: 41
Liam Petterson: fairly large reach
Because of the nature of the NHL Draft, where the later rounds are almost entirely wildcards, rankings for any player will vary. That said, Petterson was ranked outside of the top 100 on Sound of Hockey’s NHL Draft big board, which compiled rankings from 20 different sources.
Petterson should still be a key part of the Bruins’ growing pipeline as a big, puck moving defenseman, even if Boston could have gotten him later in the draft.
Sound of Hockey big board top-500: 116
The Athletic talent tier: “Has a chance to play NHL games”
Cooper Simpson: picked at the right time
Simpson was picked at No. 79 overall, which is fairly in line with his big board ranking of 89. It shows the Bruins might not have been able to acquire him when they came back around with pick 100.
Sound of Hockey big board top-500: 89
The Athletic talent tier: N/A
Vashek Richards: complete unknown/could have picked up as UDFA
Not to say that Richards won’t pan out as a prospect, but he’ll have a long road ahead of him before he even makes it into the Bruins system. Richards is the only player Boston picked that was completely unranked in Sound of Hockey’s top-500 list.
That would indicate that Richards wasn’t just a reach, but a completely unnecessary pick at No. 100 for Boston. The team could have theoretically stowed him away with their last pick in the draft.
Sound of Hockey big board top-500: N/A
The Athletic talent tier: N/A
Cole Chandler: major reach
Another big reach according to the NHL Draft big board, albeit less of one than Richards. Chandler’s ranking indicates he too could have been brought in as an undrafted free agent later on, but the Bruins elected to stow him away with one of their final picks of the draft instead.
Sound of Hockey big board top-500: 296
The Athletic talent tier: N/A
Kirill Yemelyanov: late-round steal
Yemelyanov was seemingly a strong way to cap off Boston’s draft. He was a volatile name in terms of rankings, with one evaluator marking him as high as the No. 67 prospect in the draft. In that respect, getting him at No. 165 is quite the steal.
However, most other evaluators have Yemelyanov closer to where he was selected. Still, the intrigue is there for a later round pick that could become an underrated asset in a few years once his days of junior hockey in Russia are over.
Sound of Hockey big board top-500: 139
The Athletic talent tier: “Has a chance to play NHL games”
Overall grade
The Score: A-
The Score released its overall draft grades on Saturday evening, and the Bruins scored positively, propped up primarily by their first two selections of the seven-pick haul.
“The Bruins overhauled their future center depth by snagging Hagens and then Moore on Day 2. Hagens was the projected top pick entering the draft cycle, and though he didn’t reach the same heights as Macklin Celebrini and Adam Fantilli as an NCAA freshman, he still has legit first-line potential with speed and intelligence. Hagens falling to No. 7 is a massive win for the Bruins. Moore is great value in the back half of the second round after a near point-per-game campaign with the NTDP.”
The Athletic: B
The Athletic didn’t view Boston’s draft quite as positively, given the risk they attribute to Hagens being able to transition his game to the NHL level.
“James Hagens’ landing spot at 7 to Boston reflects both his immense talent but also some of the risks in his game. He has legit first-line talent if he hits. I like the tools on William Moore, who Boston took at 51, but the draft class will be defined by Hagens. Does he bounce back and prove the haters wrong? If so, the B’s could have a very nice class even if he’s the only regular.”
FloHockey: B+
“Walking out of the draft with an elite playmaker at the center position is always a good feeling. Hagens is going to be a critical piece of the new era of the Boston Bruins and a good weapon to add to the arsenal that includes core piece David Pastrnak. … In the end, Boston made seven total picks and vastly improved one of the league’s shallower prospect pools.”
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