LOS ANGELES – The Boston Bruins pulled off a great feat at the 2025 NHL draft: they got a super-talented player lower than expected, while adding another chapter to the rivalry between Boston sports fans and New York sports fans by snapping up center James Hagens.

While New York Islanders supporters hoped their franchise would use two first-rounders it got for moving Noah Dobson to trade up and select the Long Island native, Hagens ended up going seventh overall to the Bruins, who got a little help from Happy Gilmore himself in making the pick.

"You're just sitting, waiting to hear your name called and when you hear Adam Sandler call it, it's pretty cool," Hagens said. "This is a really cool moment."

Hagens, of course, knows Boston well. He just finished his freshman season at NCAA Boston College, where he helped the Eagles rank at or near the top of the national polls pretty much all season.

"It's the coolest thing in the world," Hagens said. "It's close to home, so it's nice for my parents. I wanted to go to school in Boston, and turns out I'm a Boston Bruin now, so it all worked out. It really is a dream come true."

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No doubt the Bruins were pinching themselves when their turn came, and Hagens was still on the board. The gifted pivot was a pre-season front-runner to go first overall, but as time went on, other players caught up and passed him. It's truly not an indictment of Hagens, who won world junior gold with Team USA and had a very impressive college season, given his age. But his frame is smaller than some of the other centers that went in front of him, and as history indicates, smaller players tend to get dinged on draft day, particularly in the first 10 selections. 

From the sounds of it, the Bruins kept pretty good tabs on Hagens this season.

"I talked to them a lot," Hagens said. "My sister had a tournament in Boston so I drove her up, and I was able to meet with one of their scouts there. I was in contact with them a lot, obviously being close to them at Boston College."

If Hagens needs any more inside info, he can just call up some of his Boston College teammates: Andre Gasseau, Dean Letourneau and Oskar Jellvik had already been drafted by the Bruins in previous classes.

As for all the hype about him potentially going to his hometown Islanders, Hagens wasn't going to bog himself down in what-ifs before the picks were actually made.

"I blocked it all out," he said. "I didn't know what was going to happen. You're not sitting in those rooms, and I'm really happy to be a Boston Bruin."

For a franchise in desperate need of centers now and in the future, the Bruins now have a very good option once Hagens is ready to turn pro – and it won't take long.

Promo image credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images