It's been a long and busy summer for James Hagens, the Boston Bruins' No. 8 selection in the 2025 NHL Draft.
Following the draft, Hagens attended Boston's Development Camp, ending a whirlwind of a month for the Long Island native.
Since then, Hagens has regularly been ranked as a top prospect league-wide and is the Bruins' top prospect. The sky is the limit for Hagens, especially in this city where he's already a familiar face, thanks to playing at Boston College.
The Hockey News caught up with Hagens following a busy summer.
Since the draft, he's been able to relax just a bit. More than anything, Hagens focuses on what he can do to improve.
"It's kind of crazy," Hagens said. "It all gets thrown at you from the Draft, and then you know where you're heading. You know where you're picked. So I think just being able to be so grateful to be able to be in Boston, to be able to stay here, to have the Bruins take the chance on me. It was such a cool moment to be able to share that with my family, and then wind it down a little bit, making sure that I was in the weight room. I was on the ice. I was able to come back to Boston, train up here for a little bit before I headed over to BC for the season."
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His return to Boston College makes the Eagles that much more entertaining. It's a team rife with talent, one featuring six Bruins-affiliated prospects (Hagens, Kristian Kostadinski, Andre Gasseau, Oskar Jellvik, Dean Letourneau, and William Moore).
With that many guys all earmarked for the same location, it leads to a bit of a kinship between them.
"It's definitely special," Hagens said. "It's definitely nice being able to have so many guys that you know, especially when you're coming into dev camp, you get there, and you're familiar with a bunch of faces. It helps a lot. Makes you feel a lot more comfortable, and just, I know we're all super grateful that we've been picked to play right down the street. So it's, yeah, it's a really cool opportunity, and it's something that we all just have to be grateful for."
Despite all the fanfare, in Hockey East's Preseason Poll, Hagens and the Eagles were picked to finish fifth in a loaded Hockey East. The poll named Boston University the favorites. Hagens doesn't care for preseason rankings.
"Preseason rankings don't mean much, to be honest," Hagens said. "They could have us at last for all we care. We know what type of hockey team we have, and we know it's not going to be easy. That's why you play the game. So I think [we're] getting ready right now to be able to prove all those people wrong. In order to win it, you have to make sure that you're showing up day in and day out. So that's definitely something that's been pretty showing through."
Beyond the rankings, Hagens will be a face for the conference. Named to the preseason All-Hockey East team, he will draw all the attention in Chestnut Hill this season. It's something Hagens enjoys, but it's far from his goals. His goals for the year have virtually nothing to do with himself.
"You want to be able to win," Hagens said. "You know, that's something that no one can take away from you if you win a national championship or Beanpot or Hockey East. So those are all things that you want to be able to do this year. We have the team to do it. I know everyone's mindset is all the same, and you know, it's exciting, being able to work towards that."
That single-minded focus on purely winning is the most valuable thing in Hagens' backpack of skills. On his own training, Hagens told me he's been focused on the weight room, looking to add serious muscle ahead of another collegiate season, one that he hopes ends with a National Championship in April.
Over all else, winning and improving drives James Hagens. Everything else? Everything else can almost become just noise.
"[I'm] Just staying hungry," Hagens said. "Staying motivated, being able to make sure you're doing all the right things, so that when you get a chance to play, you know you're prepared and ready."
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