In James Hagens, Bruins have hope that a game-changing talent is on the way
"You just got to go out there next year and prove everyone that passed on you wrong."
COMMENTARY
Don Sweeney had heard all of the noise at this point when it came to James Hagens and his slipping draft stock.
Anointed as the crown jewel of the 2025 NHL Draft class in the fall, the skilled Boston College forward opened his tenure at Chestnut Hill as a projected franchise center.
Nine months later, the talk of Hagens’ game has shifted — with the narrative centered more around his shortcomings than the damage that he’s routinely doled out against opposing defenses over the last few years.
But with the ceiling of Boston’s next contention window stunted for however long the Bruins trudge forward without a proven talent down the middle, Sweeney wasn’t going to overthink things at pick No. 7.
Hagens may not present the same imposing profile as 6-foot-5 Roger McQueen, nor is he as pugnacious as Brady Martin.
There’s no guarantee that Hagens’s triple-digit scoring totals with the U.S. National Team Development Program (USNTDP) will lead to him being a point-per-game regular at hockey’s highest level.
But for all of the discourse regarding Hagens and his potential at the NHL level, Sweeney pushed back against talk of Hagens’s slide down to No. 7 on Friday.
For Boston, Hagens represents more than just high value at where he was on the 2025 draft order.
On a Bruins team in desperate need of talent, the Long Island native offers hope that reinforcements are on the way — and sooner rather than later.
“He’s been that way his whole life — in terms of what he’s done,” Sweeney said of Hagens’ track record. “So we just hope the natural progression is you’ll be able to do at the NHL level.
“Again, it’s a tough league. You find that out when you get in. You realize that you’re in a much deeper pool of players and he’ll have his own challenges. But I think he’s driven to be that top player and wants to be a difference maker.”
Despite his smaller frame at 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, it doesn’t take very long to notice Hagens out on the ice.
Be it his time with the USNTDP or at Boston College, Hagens uses his high-end speed and slick hands to gain clean entries and put opposing defenses on their heels.
A poised playmaker who likes to have the puck on his stick, Hagens can do damage from the perimeter by orchestrating Grade-A looks — or can cut toward inside ice and capitalize on the chaos that spills out in and around the crease.
Hagens’ point production as an 18-year-old player at Boston College (11 goals, 37 points in 37 games) may not leap off the page — especially when compared to other freshman phenoms in Hockey East like like Jack Eichel (71 points in 40 games) and Macklin Celebrini (64 points in 38 games).
But Sweeney acknowledged that Hagens’ body of work against Hockey East competition didn’t stand as an outlier from his previous production with the USNTDP.
“I think that’s a little unfair in terms of players going in as a freshman,” Sweeney said of Hagens’ first year at BC and whether it hurt his draft stock. “You look back at James’ track record, he’s been a prolific point producer. If you’d seen him in the World Juniors — again, against his peer group, he was on the upper echelon on the production side of things.
“There’s been a few players, you’re right, that have gone into college hockey at that age and done better overall. But there’s no shade in the type of year he had — playing on the top line, one of the top teams in the country. So there’s no concern on our part in terms of thinking he took a step back from a production standpoint.
“He’ll be perfectly fine moving forward. And that’s why we drafted him. We feel he’s a guy that can help generate offensively and continue to round out his 200-foot game, but wants to play it at every single situation and has produced at every level that he’s been at.”
Hagens shared a similar sentiment about his performance in Hockey East — especially when measured against the higher scoring totals that he would have inevitably racked up had he dominated against fellow teenagers in the Canadian junior leagues.
“I think next year you’ll be able to hopefully see,” Hagens said of proving doubters wrong after his first year of college hockey. “I thought this year was really good. You just got to go out there next year and prove everyone that passed on you wrong.
“But hey — I’m in a spot where I want to be. I wanted to be, I want to be a Boston Bruno. I’m really excited to get things going.”
Despite Hagens’s hope of making the jump to the pro game right away, Sweeney stressed that Boston won’t “fast-track” its new top prospect if he’s not ready in 2025-26.
As the top returning talent at BC, Hagens could build off his promising freshman year on an Eagles team that will feature four other Bruins draft picks (Oskar Jellvik, Dean Letourneau, Andre Gasseau, and Kristian Kostadinski).
And if Hagens takes another step forward with the Eagles, there’s a tangible scenario where Boston’s blue-chip prospect is ready to make the jump to the NHL ranks by late March 2026 — following the same path as his former BC teammate, Ryan Leonard.
Hagens is not the perfect prospect, nor is it a guarantee that the former No. 1 prospect in his draft year will be the next Jack Hughes — or even a tier below, like the 5-10 Logan Cooley.
But some things are indisputable with a player like James Hagens.
The playmaking center racked up 102 points in 58 games with the U.S. U18 national team — outscoring the likes of Leonard (94), Phil Kessel (98 points), and Matthew Tkachuk (95 points) during their respective U18 campaigns. Only Patrick Kane, Cole Eiserman, Clayton Keller, Jack Hughes, Auston Matthews, Will Smith, and Gabe Perreault matched or equaled those scoring totals with the NTDP.
His 22-point showing (nine goals, 13 assists) across seven games during the 2024 World U18 Championships set a new tournament record — surpassing the previous mark set by Nikita Kucherov.
And now, that playmaking talent will be donning a spoked-B in the coming years — potentially feeding David Pastrnak one-timers as soon as next spring.
For Bruins fans, that should stand as a breath of fresh air for a team awaiting for another franchise talent to step on the ice at TD Garden.
“I wanted to be at a spot that wanted me the most,” Hagens said. “I’m so lucky that I ended up being a Boston Bruin. It’s the best spot in the world. It’s a dream come true for me and for my whole entire family.
“So I’m just so excited right now. I’m really excited to be able to say that I’m a Boston Bruin, and I take a lot of pride in that.”
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