Top 2025 NHL Draft Prospect James Hagens: "Hopefully a Young Kid with a Dream that Could Happen One Day"

I caught up with top 2025 NHL Draft prospect James Hagens at the World Junior Summer Showcase to discuss the upcoming World Junior and the NCAA recruitment process

James Hagens is 16 years old, and he looks it—baby-faced and one of two Americans at camp whose youth requires he wear a full face shield.  

He's also good enough to compete for the right to play on a team with the best under-20 hockey players in America at the World Junior Summer Showcase and one of the top prospects for the 2025 NHL Draft.  

He is a phenomenal playmaker with imperious vision and skating powerful and refined enough to strike fear in opposing defensemen.  He put up 85 points for the U.S. National Team Development Program, spending much of that time alongside sniper Cole Eiserman—the second youngest American in Plymouth this week who must also sport a full shield on his helmet.  

Together, the pair won gold at U-17 Worlds in British Columbia back in November then doubled down for U-18 Worlds gold in April in Switzerland.  At the former tournament, Eiserman tied Alex Ovechkin's goal record (12 in seven games), and Hagens set a new event benchmark for points with 21 for a neat three-per-game.

"Things have been going awesome; I love camp," a smiling Hagens tells The Hockey News when asked about his experience at the WJSS so far. "I love the guys that are here, and they're doing a really great job with everything. It's been really enjoyable."

Even if it's no secret, Hagens isn't interested in calling attention to the fact that he is the youngest American at camp. Instead, the plan is to "just try to forget about it and just go out there and play my game and try to put everything I have on the line."

Eiserman's familiar presence is welcome for Hagens, as the pair vie to crack the American World Junior roster before their scheduled time. "We talked about it," Hagens said. "We both also see each other a lot, and we just both agree that we're putting everything we have out on the line. I wish the best of luck to him. I really hope he makes the team. He's a really good buddy of mine."

"I've been really focusing on trying to keep everything up to pace, just trying to get a little faster and get my hands going," Hagens says when asked for his off-season growth areas. "It's summer so I try to get in the weight room a lot and try to get bigger for the season."

For Hagens, the World Juniors have been a lifelong target, so perhaps it should come as no surprise that he's on an inside track to participate in a U-20 event at 16 (though he will turn 17 before the tournament begins in December).

"I remember every single game I'd go out to a restaurant and I'd sit there with my family, and watch every single game," Hagens explains. "I'd sit there and wish one day—and we'd all joke around and talk about it—and hopefully one day I could be on the TV playing in that game. So it's been a long dream for me, and every single time I step on the ice, it's something that I work for and try to get closer to. To be able to have a shot to be on this team, it's really been a dream come true, and I'm just really trying to put everything that I have on the line, so hopefully [I'm] a young kid with a dream that could happen one day."

"I feel like the most unique thing is to be able to put the USA crest on your chest and go out there and battle with the other guys on your team," Hagens continues.  "Because there's no better honor than to be able to play for your country, and I feel like that's something that I take the most pride in, something that I'm grateful for every single day that I step in this rink, and it'd really be a huge honor to be able to go overseas and play for the United States of America."

Yesterday, on the first of August, Hagens officially became eligible to commit to an NCAA hockey program—his presumptive path when his time with the NTDP comes to a close after the coming season. He follows neatly in line behind the likes of Adam Fantilli, Macklin Celebrini, and Eiserman as a prospect whose eventual commitment will have a gravity great enough to rock the sport.

Despite that, Hagens priorities lie elsewhere: on the task directly at hand. "I'm not really thinking too much about it," Hagens says of the recruiting process. "My head's just wrapped around trying to make this team right now. So I haven't really given too much thought.  It's obviously in the back of my head, but I think I'm not really focused on that right now. I'm just focused on trying to give my best performance and keep my head on making this team."

However, even if Hagens' own focus remains on the World Junior, the same cannot be said for his various American teammates, amongst whom ten universities are represented, who are keen to extoll the virtues of the programs they represent.

"A bunch of the guys have been giving [pitches] out," Hagens says with a grin that suggests he understands the hubbub around his recruitment. "It's cool to see the different guys at different schools. They're all such good guys, so it makes you want to go to all the schools, but at the end of the day, you just got to find a spot that's right for you."

For whichever program is fortunate enough to secure his services, the wait for Hagens to determine that new home will prove more than worthwhile.