“Those are guys that you grow up idolizing and to be able to see them casually and be able to talk to them, it’s something that … It’s just crazy,” Hagens informed the Globe after a current skate.
Hagens, about to embark on his first full season in the NHL when coaching camp kicks off Sept. 16, is coming off a busy 2025-26 marketing campaign which began in Chestnut Hill (for his sophomore season at Boston College) and included stops in St. Paul (for the World Juniors), Providence (for his pro debut), Boston (for his NHL launch), and at last Switzerland (for the world championships).
The busy itinerary was one thing Hagens embraced.
“Honestly, every place that I was fortunate enough to be at, it was a learning experience wherever I was. I had so many great players, great human beings, and coaches around me,” stated Hagens, the Bruins’ prime choose (No. 7) in 2025. “Just being able to be around it, see what it meant to be a pro, see how those guys acted, how they carried themselves. Something that I was really grateful for.”
Hagens acknowledged it’s a bit bizarre to not be preparing to return to high school for the first time since his pre-kindergarten days.
“I had a great time at school, though. I was so fortunate to be able to go to Boston College and to be right down the road,” stated Hagens. “It’s different, but you’re following your dreams and trying to make a team.”
His intention is to don only one sweater this season — the Bruins’ No. 44. He took the ice for Boston for the first time in April in the penultimate regular-season sport — a 3-2 win in Columbus. He skated at TD Garden for the first time as a Bruin in the finale — a 4-0 win over New Jersey.
“It was crazy. It’s not really something you can put into words when you’re in a room with all these guys that are role models to you,” stated Hagens, requested about his feelings for these two video games. “So, when you’re sitting next to them and being able to go out and play with them, it was just a really cool opportunity. It’s something you work for your whole life.”
He stated his help system was paramount in his ideas earlier than these video games.
“You have to give a lot of credit to your family, to my parents, to my brother [Michael] and little sister [Emma] and everyone that’s helped me along the way. I wouldn’t be there without them,” Hagens stated. “So, it’s just not going in with too many nerves, just realizing it is a hockey game and just being ready to go.”
Hagens additionally performed in the first three playoff video games towards the Sabres earlier than coach Marco Sturm went with a extra veteran lineup. Those glimpses into skilled life offered a transparent blueprint for learn how to put together.
“It really shows you how hard it is,” he stated. “You can’t take a day off. It’s not easy at all. So, it’s being prepared, especially now using this time in the offseason just to put yourself in the right opportunity to try to make the team.”
Hagens stated he had “great conversations” throughout his exit interviews with the Bruins earlier than heading to the worlds.
“They’ve been so great to me, so helpful. And for me, it was really about learning. Making sure that whenever anybody talks, I’m paying attention, I’m listening,” stated Hagens. “There’s always something to learn being around here when you have Bergeron, you have Chara, you’ve got guys that have been around and they’re some of the best players in the world. And even in the locker room, you’ve just got to make sure that you’re soaking everything in. You can always learn. And being able to just really be open to that, it’s been really special.”
Where Hagens matches into the Bruins’ plans will probably be a serious plot line of coaching camp. A pure middle, Hagens spent a lot of final season at left wing, together with his 5 video games as an NHLer.
He has been getting ready for both situation.
“I just want to be able to go out there [and play], but it’s really just about being ready. If they want you at center, then you have to make sure that you’re prepared, and you’re really dialed in to what your task is. And you got to make sure that you can win faceoffs, too,” he stated. “So, if you’re playing winger, then you have different assignments. You have to make sure that you can play well there, too, because there’s a bunch of other guys that can do it as well.”
Hagens’s summer time schedule has been busy — however not hectic.
“It’s been awesome. I’ve been able to be in Boston, be able to train with the guys here, being able to be around them. They push you to be your best,” he stated. “So, I felt like it was great also being able to spend some time at home with family. That’s something that I really appreciated. It feels like a vacation when you’re back home.”
Especially when time with the household meant high quality time on the boat.
“It’s never a bad day when you’re out on the water,” he stated, together with his dad and mom and his siblings, each of whom will probably be taking part in faculty hockey at Vermont.
Michael heads there this season as a switch from BC, and Emma in 2028.
“She went, she saw the school and she loved it. I wasn’t home really for all of it when she was kind of deciding, but those are just exciting times to be able to go to a Division 1 hockey school,” stated Hagens. “It’s a dream come true. It’s something you work for. She’s worked so hard her whole life and to see it pay off, you have to be proud.”
Of course, no trip could be full with out some wrestling with Oshie, the household’s miniature schnauzer.
“He’s doing really well. He’s the best,” Hagens stated. “He’s always begging for treats, he’s awesome.”
EAGER FOR MORE
Minten continues to construct sport
Fraser Minten is gearing up for his second full NHL season after a profitable rookie marketing campaign that included all 82 video games (plus a half-dozen postseason tilts), 17 objectives, and 35 factors.
Perhaps Minten’s most spectacular quantity, nevertheless, was his plus-21 in the common season. He instantly took to the 200-foot sport on the NHL degree. The 6-foot-2-inch, 205-pound middle is accountable in all three zones and performs with an understated physicality. He rapidly purchased into Sturm’s hybrid zone system and have become one of many staff’s most dependable penalty killers. As the season wore on, Minten noticed time on the highest line and the facility play.
“I’ve always been a guy that wants to be out there contributing to winning. I think that’s my priority as a player, kind of my style,” Minten stated by way of telephone from his residence in Vancouver. “I like being a guy that’s reliable and versatile, a guy that can be trusted to be out there at the end of the games, at the start of games, whenever. Faceoffs, penalty killing, one of the guys that can play on the power play, too. So just trying to be versatile and reliable, I think that is a reflection of that [plus-minus] stat.”
Minten credited the Western Hockey League — he performed in maybe the 2 most Canadian cities ever, Kamloops and Saskatoon — for getting ready him.
“We have really tough travel with the buses there and we’re playing 70 games plus preseason, plus playoffs . . . So, I was pretty used to lots of games and travel from that,” stated Minten. “And I just knew it would be the same, but even more difficult at the elevated level the NHL is.”
Minten stated the collection towards the Sabres actually drove residence what a fine line it is between success and failure in the postseason.
“Just another level of elevation as far as details and compete and strength that’s needed to make a difference,” he stated. “Just every little play, every little detail. You have to be so dialed in to every faceoff, like coverage, who you’re out there against. The mistakes just end up costing more. So, just being able to have the endurance to be ready by the end of the season to bring that out I think is one of the biggest things that I was able to learn.”
Following the Bruins season, Minten was tapped by Hockey Canada for the world championships in Switzerland, the place he performed one other 10 video games. Playing alongside among the league’s finest helped construct his confidence.
“It was great. It was super fun to play with the fellow countrymen. And we had a super-stacked veteran roster there. Lots of guys who’ve done a lot and won a lot in their career,” he stated. “So, getting the opportunity to be around the dressing room with guys like [Ryan] O’Reilly, [Sidney] Crosby, [John] Tavares, to name a few, even [Macklin] Celebrini. I skate with Mac around here [in the summer], but just guys that are so professional, so dialed in and just the elite of the elite of the sport.
“It’s an honor and super fun to get to play with those guys anytime. So, it was an awesome experience and something that hopefully [the NHL] playoffs prevent me from doing in the future.”
It was then Minten, a key return in the commerce that despatched defenseman Brandon Carlo to Toronto on the 2025 deadline, was capable of look again at his profitable first season. He has spent the summer time recharging his batteries and refocusing on what’s forward.
“Just want to build on last season, continue to help the team be a winning hockey team, be a team that can be playing meaningful games all year long and hopefully extend the season,” he stated. “I want to contribute with good reliability and be defensive, be trustworthy, and then continue to build the offensive game and provide goals and just help the team any way I can and help us be a winning team.”
Minten, who turned 22 final month, will probably be a restricted free agent at season’s finish. He acknowledged a long-term deal has been on his thoughts.
“Obviously there’s things you have to think about when you have an upcoming contract expiring and just kind of putting it to the side and worrying about my training and what I can control and the season and let that stuff kind of take care of itself over time,” he stated.
For the document, he’d love to remain in Boston.
“Boston has done nothing but treat me super well and I really enjoy wearing the logo,” Minten stated. “So, that would be something that would be super appealing to me for sure.”
Quiz time: Now that Colorado’s Cale Makar has re-set the market for NHL contracts (eight years, $163.2 million), who signed the first million-dollar contract in league history? Answer below . . . The situation in Winnipeg got a little dicier when Connor Hellebuyck reiterated his request for a trade, this time publicly. Hellebuyck stated he informed the membership about his need a number of months in the past and, by means of an announcement launched by agent Ray Petkau, stated he “tried to handle the situation quietly and respectfully while giving the organization time to explore its options.” It’s not quiet, and whereas many groups would like to have essentially the most embellished goalie in the sport manning their internet, the franchise’s leverage is out the window. The Bruins face the Jets in Winnipeg Oct. 2 . . . Lightning captain/defenseman Victor Hedman revealed he was affected by “performance anxiety,” which led him to step away from the sport late final season. “For me, it was not really feeling low, but it was performance anxiety, kind of feeling that pressure in your chest as soon as a gameday would hit,” Hedman informed nhl.com. “It kind of locks you up. You make a mistake and in the past, you’d be able to shake it off, but I couldn’t do that. And I wasn’t feeling 100 percent physically.” Hedman, 35, who handled a balky elbow throughout his seventeenth season, stated he feels higher as he prepares for his 18th. “I felt it was important for me to [step away] to get a handle on everything mentally and physically,” he stated. “Someone told me that for good leaders sometimes doing the right thing for the team is to kind of step away … I don’t regret that decision at all. It was the right thing to do.” . . . Prayers for Blues prospect Matthew Mayich, who collapsed throughout an outside exercise with Arizona State University and stays hospitalized. The faculty has launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the exercise . . . The Bruins and Penguins will probably be featured on nationally televised video games a league-high 20 occasions this season. The Flames and Canucks are scheduled for zero US nationwide video games, whereas the Jets have one . . . Big schedule disappointment at this tackle as a result of the Bruins gained’t be in St. Louis on Dec. 2. That evening, the Blues will hand out Ozzy Osbourne bobbleheads to the first 10,000 followers. The late Osbourne has been linked to the Blues since 1984, when the “Prince of Darkness” was arrested for public intoxication in Memphis whereas carrying a Blues sweater . . . A reminder the Bruins Fan Fest will probably be at Rocky Point State Park in Warwick, R.I., Sept. 12 and have a Bergeron look-a-like contest. The enjoyable continues Sept. 13 at Worcester Common, minus the competition. Both days run 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and are freed from cost. For extra, go to bostonbruins.com/fanfest . . . Quiz reply: Bobby Orr signed a five-year, $1 million (complete!) contract on Aug. 26, 1971. The ensuing season, the Bruins gained the Stanley Cup and Orr took residence the Hart (MVP), Norris (finest defenseman), and Conn Smythe (playoff MVP) trophies. Now that’s a bang for your buck.
Jim McBride could be reached at james.mcbride@globe.com. Follow him @globejimmcbride.