Where Bruins fans think James Hagens should play next season

(Photo Credit: Minas Panagiotakis - Getty Images)

Entering his freshman season at Boston College, James Hagens was the early odds-on favorite to be selected first overall in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft.

He left the USA Hockey National Team Development Program among the most decorated alumni.

During his two seasons with the NTDP he scored 72G, 115A, 187PTS, in 118GP.

His totals are good enough for 5th all time in program history behind only Jack Hughes (228PTS), Cole Eiserman (193PTS), Will Smith (191PTS), Clayton Keller (189PTS), and ahead of players like Phil Kessel (180PTS), Patrick Kane (172PTS), and Auston Matthews (167PTS.)

Furthermore, in 2024, Hagens set an IIHF World U18 Championship scoring record tallying 9G, 13A, 22PTS, in 7GP - surpassing the previous record of 21PTS set by Nikita Kucherov in 2011.

As the calendar turned to 2025, Hagens' No. 1 overall projection was still alive and well.

Matthew Schaefer suffered an eventual season ending injury for Team Canada at World Juniors, while Hagens helped lead Team USA to their 2nd consecutive Gold Medal.

However, Hagens' stock would begin to slowly decline as his college season came to an end.

Despite being the No. 1 center on one of the top teams in the NCAA as a 17, turn 18 year old true freshman - Hagens' 11G, 26A, 37PTS, in 37GP was underwhelming to many.

Which is a bit harsh in my opinion - Hagens was the same age as most high-school seniors across the country playing against players in the NCAA up to seven years older than him.

Nonetheless, depending on which mock drafts you read, Hagens entered draft night projected to go as early as 3rd overall, and as late as 7th.

Fortunately for the Bruins, Hagens indeed fell to 7th overall - but not because he was the 7th overall talent. If teams drafted solely on "taking the best player available" Hagens would've likely gone 3rd or 4th overall.

I do believe fit, and need for some of the teams drafting in front of Boston were indeed prioritized over pure talent.

For example, the Chicago Blackhawks, and Utah Mammoth, already have young, highly skilled, and undersized No. 1 centers in Connor Bedard, and Logan Cooley. Therefore, Chicago went for the bigger bodied Anton Frondell who can play center or wing down the line, and the Mammoth took a larger, more conservative two-way center option in Caleb Desnoyers who could slide in as their No. 2 center for the next decade-plus.

Like Boston, the Nashville Predators are too in need of a future No. 1 center, and absolutely could have used Hagens' skill set. However, they choose to take a chance on "the next Sam Bennett" in Brady Martin. This was the pick that would have been off the board prior to the week of the draft, and really opened the door for Boston.

The Philadelphia Flyers may have been more tempted to draft Hagens if they hadn't traded for Trevor Zegras who they hope can have No. 1 center upside if his will meets his skill. Instead, they drafted a big, highly projected power forward winger in Porter Martone - a more than fair selection for them.

This is all to say, Hagens fell for no real damning reason, but rather a snowball effect of reasons, most of which were out of his control. He may have gone 7th overall, but he has clear No. 1 center potential in the NHL - Boston doesn't have a typical 7th overall prospect on their hands.

So the question is, what's best for this development?

Well, here are the options.

Return to Boston College

The Bruins are in a period of transition.

Their focus next year should be getting the train back on the rails, and moving forward.

Re-establishing structure, and identity in all phases of the game can be done without Hagens.

Not to mention that being an 18 year old on an NHL team trying to get their footing isn't exactly an ideal situation.

Instead, Hagens can go back to Chestnut Hill, wear a letter for the Eagles, play in all situations, star in meaningful tournaments like World Juniors, Beanpot, Hockey East / NCAA playoffs, and hopefully even a Frozen Four.

Dominate college hockey for six months, and then maybe make an NHL debut at the conclusion of his sophomore season.

Turn Professional

While the natural assumption is that the turning pro option means the NHL, it could also mean the AHL.

Now, the benefit of playing in the AHL, compared to the NCAA, is that it's an introduction to the pro game while not being over exposed too early by the best of the best at the NHL level.

Additionally, schedule density is more challenging in the AHL, than college.

NCAA teams play around 35-40 games a season, while AHL teams play 72 games.

NHL teams play 82 games.

So that's the probably the biggest advantage for turning pro at the AHL level.

High end prospects who go from the NCAA to the NHL make the adjustment of playing 40+ more games (plus travel) on the fly, whereas spending time in the minors first can help ease that transition.

As far as turning pro at the NHL level for the start of next season?

I mean, if Hagens is ready, he's ready.

And if that's the case, being thrown into the fire can sometimes work out.

But most of the time it's premature, and it doesn't ...

How did fans vote?

I took to X on Tuesday afternoon to find out:

Welp, there you have it.

We'll see what the Bruins decide to do, but as you can see, Bruins fans have certainly spoken and they've decided that it's ...