Good luck, one and all (said best in the lamenting tone of “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen”).
James Hagens, a rising sophomore at Boston College and one of the draft’s more talented fresh faces, found out Friday night that his hopes matched those of the Bruins. He went No. 7, the highest pick the Bruins have made in 15 years. They’ll both begin to learn Monday morning, with the start of the Black and Gold development camp in Brighton, how or if those hopes truly align. Just keep in mind, while considering odds, the safe bet here is that Hagens will be back at the Heights this fall while the Bruins continue to recover from the two-hander across the back that was their 2024-25 season to nowhere.
The four-day camp for Hagens mainly will be just a way to get acquainted with his pro-to-be environs, even if, with BC just up the street, it won’t seem all that new to him.
“It’ll feel good,” Hagens said late Friday night, when asked his thoughts on his Monday debut. “We skated at Warrior a bunch of times this year for [BC] practices so it’s not like it’s going to be nerve-racking or anything. I know a bunch of the prospects that’ll be there.”
Now, sure, it would be one great thing if Hagens, a left-shot center, turned out to be the franchise’s next Patrice Bergeron, able to take that humongous step from amateur hockey right into the bigs (albeit as a winger for the then- teenaged Bergeron).
Even greater still if Hagens tracked like Ray Bourque, who made that same junior-to-NHL jump as the No. 8 pick in 1979, and immediately put down tracks, beginning at age 18, to become the blueliner to collect the most goals (410), most assists (1,169) and most points (1,579) in NHL history. Yessir, how GM Don Sweeney would love to pause, drop his menu and tell the waitress, “I’ll have what Harry Sinden had.”
What could — again, could — be realistic for the 5-foot-11-inch Hagens, who earlier this year won World Junior gold with Team USA, is a second season with the BC varsity in which he boosts his freshman offensive output of a point-per-game (11-26–37). Remember, he had yet to turn 18 when he entered class at Chestnut Hill last fall. From an age perspective, he was a true freshman in Hockey East, with some of the opposing playing stock five and six years older. Such an age spread can be impossible for some kids.
“There’s no shame in the type of year he had …,” said Sweeney, while noting that the college game is dotted with players of equal age putting up bigger numbers, “… playing on the top line with one of the top teams in the country. There’s no concern on our part in thinking he took a step back [from his time with the National Team Development Program] from a production standpoint. He’ll be perfectly fine from a production standpoint — and that’s why we drafted him. We feel he’s a guy who can help generate offensively, continue to round out his 200-foot game … and he’s produced at every level he’s been.”
Sweeney believes there’s a chance that Hagens, based on what could be BC’s overall offensive needs in 2025-26, will take a more shot-first approach his sophomore season. If so, his numbers could rise from the 11 he potted as a freshman, which ranked fifth on the Maroon and Gold and less than half the team-high 30 posted by Ryan Leonard, who was often his linemate. Leonard turned pro with the Capitals immediately after BC’s season.
If Hagens beefed up his numbers, and added a bit of size (180 pounds) and stamina, the next big/logical step could be turning pro with AHL Providence next spring.
Sound familiar? It’s precisely that path that fellow Long Islander Charlie McAvoy followed in 2016-17 as a sophomore at Boston University.
McAvoy, then 19, posted 5-21—26 in Year Two as a Terrier — numbers in virtual lockstep with his freshman season — and turned pro with the WannaBs that spring. After only four games with Providence, he joined the varsity and made his Bruins debut in the 2017 playoffs vs. the Senators. Now 595 NHL games later, including 91 in the playoffs, it looks like the plan worked.
Sweeney’s mantra: “every player in his time,” never changes. He believes, and is largely correct, that the kids call the tune, that their progress as amateurs is what most determines the timeline. Granted, it was decades ago, but as an undersized Crimson defenseman, Sweeney felt he needed all four years at Harvard after the Bruins made him the 166th pick in the ‘84 draft. He was right, and it worked for him.
Without directly saying it, or expressing it, Sweeney late Friday night was telling Hagens to go out this year at BC and show he’s ready for the show. The Bruins sure could use a kid who kicks down the door, in Bergeron and Bourque style. Oh, to dream.
Sweeney also noted that most, if not all, 18-year-olds figure on draft day, if not for a year or two before, that their time is now. Today. Let the games begin! History shows, and painfully in some cases, that not to be the case.
Exhibit A: of the 224 players chosen in last June’s draft at Las Vegas, only six of those teeny boppers logged regular-season NHL games this past season. Their total: 105 games. Only one, San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini (70 of those 105 games) was a bona fide regular.
Hope shapes the NHL Draft. Reality is, the show has just begun, and the sorting out begins with that first drop of the puck at Monday’s camp.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at [email protected].
