Boston Bruins
“It’s nearly prefer it’s a part of the sport now.”
The ready sport continues for Bruins blue-chip prospect James Hagens and his arrival to the professional ranks.
Hagens’ sophomore season at Boston College ended on Friday during the Hockey East semifinals, opening the door for the seventh decide within the 2025 NHL Draft to signal a professional take care of the Bruins.
So far, the 19-year-old ahead has but to place pen to paper on a contract with the Bruins.
While Hagens may conceivably return to the Eagles for a junior marketing campaign at Chestnut Hill, the playmaking ahead has little left to show on the collegiate sport.
He took one other step ahead in 2025-26, recording 47 factors (23 targets, 24 assists) over 34 video games whereas serving to BC win its first Beanpot title since 2016.
Hagens — a top-10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award — is probably going finest served making the leap to the professional sport this spring.
But the place precisely he begins his profession is perhaps inflicting the delay in his potential arrival to the Bruins’ group.
Hagens may simply signal his entry-level take care of Boston and report on to the Bruins, probably giving Boston’s ahead corps a spark with 12 video games left within the regular-season slate.
Keeping him up within the NHL ranks for the remainder of the common season (and into the postseason) opens the door for Boston burning the primary 12 months of his entry-level deal proper out of the gate.
That would possibly get Hagens a 12 months nearer to a pay increase when his ELC expires, however it is perhaps the price of doing enterprise if the proficient skater hits the ice operating on the NHL degree this spring.
Of course, the Bruins would possibly desire placing Hagens on the same path as the one which Charlie McAvoy went on when he made the leap from Boston University to the professional ranks in 2017.
McAvoy initially signed an beginner tryout (ATO) contract with the Providence Bruins after closing out his sophomore season with the Terriers in March 2017, with the gifted blueliner getting some expertise towards AHL competitors after two years in Hockey East.
It wasn’t till accidents decimated Boston’s D corps going into the Stanley Cup Playoffs that the Bruins signed McAvoy to his ELC and elevated him as much as the NHL for a first-round bout with the Senators. The relaxation is historical past.
The Bruins would possibly need to see how Hagens fares in Providence first earlier than throwing him right into a high-stakes playoff race over the following few weeks.
Of course, Hagens and his representatives might not be too eager on a pitstop in Providence — probably resulting in a stalemate that would drag out these contract talks.
As the Bruins and Hagens proceed to chart the perfect path transferring ahead, Bruins head coach Marco Sturm acknowledged on Monday that he doesn’t have any qualms about placing youthful gamers within the lineup — so lengthy as they’re as much as the duty.
“It’s always a challenge for everyone. Depends a little bit too what kind of age you’re in. So the good thing is with me, over the past — especially in [the Kings’ AHL affiliate] Ontario — I always had college kids coming in,” Sturm mentioned. “They’re college kids and they never played against men.
“So it’s always a challenge. But, I didn’t see a problem because I feel like in the league in general, it’s part of the game now. … There’s so many guys now. It’s almost like it’s part of the game now, having — this time of the year — college kids coming in.”
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