Latest news with #JamesHagens
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Coveted NHL Draft prospect James Hagens undecided on return to Boston College
There's a lot of uncertainty on the horizon for James Hagens. The Boston College forward is projected to be a Top 5 pick in next month's NHL Draft. Hagens' hometown New York Islanders own the top selection in the draft, followed by San Jose, Chicago, Utah and Nashville. The Long Island native could wind up all over the map. Advertisement As a 17-year-old, Hagens was a point-per-game player at BC in a competitive Hockey East, scoring 11 goals and 26 assists in 37 games. However, the 5-foot-11, 177-pound center hasn't yet decided on whether he'll be back for a sophomore season. That'll depend on where he's drafted to. 'Just have to see what happens. There's no decision made yet,' Hagens said on a Tuesday morning Zoom call. 'That's a discussion that me and my family and the team would have to have after the draft.' Hagens isn't expected to be available when the Bruins are on the clock at No. 7 overall, but after a year at Chestnut Hill, he said he'd be happy to stick around the area. 'I love Boston,' Hagens said. 'Being at Boston College, we're right in the middle of Boston there. So it's a beautiful city. Only great things to say about it. I love it there.' Advertisement At Elite Prospects, Hagens is the consensus No. 3 ranked player on the board in the 2025 NHL Draft, trailing just Erie Otters defenseman Michael Schaefer and Saginaw Spirit forward Michael Misa. More Bruins content Read the original article on MassLive.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Sport
- Time of India
Here's why James Hagens is declining in the NHL Draft as Matthew Schaefer moves up
James Hagens (via Getty Images) What was once the clear top prospect of the 2025 NHL Draft, James Hagens' stock has dropped—and the New York Islanders are faced with a franchise-altering decision. Following an MVP performance at the 2024 U18 World Championship and a prohibitive USHL season, he was a strong favorite to be taken No. 1 overall. Then why is he no longer at the top of most draft boards? Concerns about James Hagens' NHL game change View this post on Instagram A post shared by ColorsTV (@colorstv) For all his bloodlines and offensive skill, NHL scouts have started to wonder how James Hagens' game will translate to the next level. He's a bit undersized at barely 5-foot-11 and lacks a physical component. Scouts have noted stretches of his NCAA season where he vanished in even-strength play, failing to get inside versus more physical defenders and landing with a less-than-expected goal total. James Hagens, born-and-raised Long Islander and lifelong Isles supporter, would be the sentimental choice. Comparisons to Tavares are unavoidable. But sentiment won't win playoff series — and currently, scouts overwhelmingly think defenseman Matthew Schaefer is the best player in the class. Matthew Schaefer, a 6-foot-2 blueliner with exceptional skating and excellent two-way skills, is considered a potential top-pairing NHL blueliner of the future. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 21st Century Skills Start with Confident Communication Planet Spark Learn More Undo Even in struggling with injuries this year, he dictated games on the back end with a physicality and composure Hagens has not yet matched. 'Schaefer is the only truly special player in this draft,' a scout told The Athletic. 'Other than maybe Misa, Schaefer is in a tier of his own.' The Islanders seem not to be in rebuild mode or fighting for survival anymore. With a new arena, playoff seasoning, and sound ownership, they can't miss on a franchise defenseman like Schaefer. 'They'd be going way off the board in the eyes of most teams if they took Hagens,' said one NHL scout. Also read: James Hagens continues to shine despite quieter season at Boston College The bottom line James Hagens is still one of the best-scoring players in this class. But for a top-six team drafting first overall — especially one that has true playoff hopes — the selection has to be made with an eye toward constructing a championship core. That choice, according to almost everyone in scouting, is Matthew Schaefer. Get IPL 2025 match schedules , squads , points table , and live scores for CSK , MI , RCB , KKR , SRH , LSG , DC , GT , PBKS , and RR . Check the latest IPL Orange Cap and Purple Cap standings.
New York Times
5 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Why James Hagens dropped down NHL draft boards, and the Islanders' unique predicament at No. 1
James Hagens entered the 2025 draft cycle coming off an MVP performance at the 2024 U18 World Championships and a dominant season in the USHL. He was projected by many — including myself and several NHL scouts I spoke to — as the No. 1 prospect for this class. He had a very good draft season. Hagens posted a point per game as a freshman at Boston College, playing major minutes on one of the top teams in college hockey. He centered the top line for Team USA at the World Juniors, where they won gold. He has a rich history of prolific scoring and being one of the very best players in his age group. He is among the very best skaters and puck handlers in this draft. Advertisement We've been spoiled recently with the years Macklin Celebrini and Adam Fantilli had in college in their draft seasons. Hagens didn't do what they did, but his season compares to what Matty Beniers and Kent Johnson did at Michigan when they were top-five picks in 2021. Hagens has outplayed several top draft prospects he's being compared to — or has apparently been surpassed by — at various events. He was way better than Porter Martone at this year's World Juniors and arguably just as good or better than him at the U18 Worlds last spring. At that tournament, where Hagens was a top player, Caleb Desnoyers was a fourth-line forward for Canada. Hagens also outplayed Michael Misa at their U17 Challenge two years ago. So why isn't he considered in the conversation for the best player in the draft anymore? There are a few variables. While he played very well this season, evaluators have minor questions about how Hagens' game would translate to the NHL. At BC, he had stretches this season where he was hard to notice at even strength and had too many games where he was invisible. He struggled to consistently get to the inside against bigger college defenders. He also struggled to score goals this season. At barely 5-foot-11 and without a physical edge, his profile becomes harder to project as a top-line NHL center who you can win with. His compete level is decent and looked good at the World Juniors, but I wouldn't call it a standout trait. If Hagens turns into the most offensively productive player from this class, I wouldn't be shocked, and frankly, I would call him the most purely talented offensive player in the class. But winning in the NHL is about more than scoring. Several players — such as Misa and potentially Anton Frondell, Desnoyers or Martone — may go ahead of Hagens simply because the profile they project as (bigger, two-way players, most as centers) is more valuable to NHL teams than a dynamic, scoring small player who may or may not be an NHL center. Advertisement The scouts who are bullish on Hagens, though, would argue that if he were playing junior hockey instead of college, he would have lapped some of those other players. Which brings us to the New York Islanders, who now face a fascinating decision. As soon as they won the draft lottery, buzz around Hagens started up among a vocal part of the fan base. Hagens is from Long Island. He grew up an Islanders fan. For a franchise that lost their last No. 1 pick when John Tavares signed with Toronto as a free agent, the idea of drafting one of their own carries real emotional weight, especially given his profile as a projected No. 1 pick at some point. That, however, is not the state of the draft currently. Right now, there's one player most teams believe is fitting of the No. 1 pick: Matthew Schaefer. A minority leans toward Misa, but that is the extent of it. Frankly, from the scouts I've talked to, there are as many who feel Hagens isn't a top-five player in the draft than who feel there's a meaningful challenger to Schaefer at No. 1. 'Schaefer is the only truly special player in this draft,' said one NHL scout, with an executive we talked to stating, 'Other than maybe Misa, Schaefer is in a tier of his own.' Schaefer is a 6-foot-2 defenseman with tremendous skating ability who makes a lot of plays, competes hard and has the ability to control games from the back end. He projects as a star 25-minute-per-game NHL defenseman who helps you win playoff games. He dominated almost every game he suited up in this season, even if his playing time was limited due to injury. His offensive upside isn't elite, but the total package is. Even if he wasn't clearly ahead of Hagens a year ago at this time, Schaefer is nearly a full year younger than Hagens, and as he continued to develop this season, the separation became clear. Advertisement If the Islanders had the No. 2 pick, the Hagens conversation would make sense. He's not my No. 2 ranked player, or that of almost any NHL scout I've talked to, but it's perfectly within the realm of possibilities that Hagens ends up the pure best player in the class, surpassing Schaefer, and even more reasonable that he could end up the best forward in the draft. This isn't a Connor Bedard or Macklin Celebrini draft where the difference from 1 to 5 is gigantic. But Hagens becoming the best player in the draft is not the likely outcome, and taking Hagens over Schaefer would be the move of an organization that is unserious about winning the Stanley Cup and putting a priority on other variables. 'They'd be going way off the board in the eyes of most teams if they took Hagens,' said one NHL scout. The Tavares situation looms in the background, but it's not the same. It's understandable the organization feels overshadowed at times by the Rangers, but the Islanders aren't the team they were in 2018. They have stable ownership. They have a permanent home in UBS Arena and have had reasonable playoff success in recent years. The idea that Hagens would stay just because he's local isn't enough to make up for passing on the better player. Hagens is a fantastic NHL prospect with the potential to be an impact offensive player. He has the tools to be a consistent 60-80 point forward in the league or better. My NHL comparison for him is William Nylander. He's a legitimate top-five talent and would be a perfectly reasonable pick at No. 2 or 3. But as tends to be the case in many drafts, there is typically a distinction between the No. 1 prospect and the next best player. The gap isn't as wide this year, but in the mind of most evaluators, and I tend to agree, the pick is clear-cut. As difficult as it may be, the Islanders have only one correct decision to make, and that is drafting Schaefer.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
OHL Heavily Represented in Craig Button's Recent Mock Draft
The 2025 NHL Draft is just around the corner, and many pundits are starting to project what the first round will look like. Craig Buttons' recent mock draft projects the OHL to be well represented in the opening round of the 2025 NHL Draft. Historically, the OHL has always featured prominently in the opening round of NHL Drafts. Last season, nine of the players picked in round one played for OHL teams, meaning the league claimed 28 percent of the players picked. That was the highest percentage for any individual league. Based on Buttons' projections, the OHL could receive an even larger share of this year's first-round picks. Picks 1-5 1. New York Islanders - Matthew Schaefer2. San Jose Sharks - Porter Martone 3. Chicago Blackhawks - Michael Misa4. Utah Mammoth - James Hagens 5. Nashville Predators - Jake O'Brien According to this mock draft four of the opening five picks could be OHL players. While Schaefer going first feels like a no brainer based on every projection seen since January, some people are asking whether the Islanders might take James Hagens instead seeing as he is a Long Island native. Porter Martone going second is a bit of a surprise given that he has slipped down prospect lists in the second half of the season. The Steelheads forward fell from fourth to sixth in NHL Central Scouting's latest rankings. Jake O'Brien has risen up draft boards in the second half of the year. He jumped up from eighth to fourth on NHL Central Scouting's rankings. Seeing him go fifth to Nashville would round out a dominant showing for the OHL in the first five picks. The London Knights Hang On To Win OHL Championship For the second time since 2010, the London Knights are the winners of back-to-back OHL Championships. The Knights took game five of the OHL Final to hoist the J. Ross Robertson Cup on home ice. Picks 6-10 6. Philadelphia Flyers - Brady Martin7. Boston Bruins - Caleb Desnoyers8. Seattle Kraken - Anton Frondell9. Buffalo Sabres - Radim Mrtka10. Anaheim Ducks - Lynden Lakovic After dominating the top five picks, Button projects just Brady Martin being taken in this segment of the first round. Martin is a riser when it comes to prospect rankings having moved from 17th to 11th on NHL Central Scouting's rankings. His dominant performance at the U-18 Men's Championship will only have served to boost his stock higher. In seven games at the tournament he scored three goals and added eight assists while looking like a man playing amongst boys. As a side note, when it comes to recent history, the Flyers have tended towards OHL players when they have a first round pick. Since 2020, they've drafted an OHL player three times in the first round. In 2021 they did not have a first-round pick and in 2022 they selected Cutter Gauthier of the USNDTP. 2025 NHL Draft Profile: Jacob Cloutier With the OHL season finished, and the London Knights crowned champions for the second consecutive season, many OHL fans are turning their attention towards the NHL Draft in June. Questions abound about where certain players will be picked and who will rise or fall on draft boards. Picks 11-16 11. Pittsburgh Penguins - Roger McQueen12. New York Rangers - Kashawn Aitcheson 13. Detroit Red Wings - Victor Englund14. Columbus Blue Jackets - Jackson Smith 15. Vancouver Canucks - Cole Reschny16. Montreal Canadiens - Justin CarbonneauAgain, the OHL becomes somewhat sparse in this segment of Buttons' mock draft, with just one pick predicted to come from the league. Kashawn Aitcheson is a hard-nosed defender who is gifted on both sides of the puck. He also rose up NHL Central Scouting's rankings, going from 15th to ninth. It is possible we could see players like Malcolm Spence, Henry Brzustewicz and Jack Nesbitt creep into these picks as well. There is a fair amount of disagreement between pundits on this segment of the draft. Based on Buttons' draft, six OHL players project to be picked in the first half of the draft. If the percentages pan out, that would mean a total of 12 OHL players get picked in the first round, which would be a 33 percent increase from last year. This does seem a bit far-fetched, though. It seems much more likely that by the end of round one, the OHL will have around 10 players taken. What is clear is that the OHL is very well represented at the top of this year's draft class, with pundits predicting a large number of OHL players being taken in the first 10 picks of the 2025 NHL Draft. As always, the draft is unpredictable, and while it is fun to look at mock drafts and projections, we will never know how the chips will fall until teams start making picks. The 2025 NHL Draft will take place on Friday, June 27th at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
Time of India
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
James Hagens continues to shine despite quieter season at Boston College
James Hagens continues to shine despite quieter season at Boston College (Image Source: Getty Images) James Hagens was the name to watch as one approached the 2025 NHL Draft . Everybody believed he was going to be the first pick. Having his whole career centered on Long Island, New York, the player did brilliantly at any and all levels. In the 2023-24 season, he amassed 102 points in 58 contests while also representing the USA Hockey National Team Development Program . Operation Sindoor India-Pakistan Tensions Live Updates: India hits back after Pakistan violates ceasefire; Nagrota sentry hurt in brief gunfire Operation Sindoor Live Updates: Drones shot down at multiple places in J&K as Pakistan violates bilateral understanding Pak drones enter Indian airspace, explosions heard just hours after truce deal That shall keep him among the nine who have collectively surpassed the 100 points plateau during a program season. James Hagens played with Ryan Leonard and Gabriel Perreault at Boston College After that phenomenal season, James Hagens committed to Boston College for the 2024-25 season. He played on a line with two of the top NHL prospects : Capitals' Ryan Leonard and Rangers' Gabriel Perreault. His fans were waiting to see him dominate again. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Trending in in 2025: Local network access control [Click Here] Esseps Learn More Undo He did not score as much as everyone wanted him to, but he still had 37 points in 37 games. That's one per game, which is still good. He also helped Team USA win gold at the World Juniors with five goals and four assists. James Hagens struggled at college. He was shorter than many of the older heavier players. Because of his longer height, it was harder for him to get to the net. Most of his shots were from far away, and his goal numbers dropped: 2022-23 (NTDP): 26 goals in 43 games (27.5%) 2023-24 (NTDP): 39 goals on 58 games (18.5%) 2024-25 (Boston College): 11 goals in 37 games (7.9%) James Hagens' playmaking and skating continue to show elite NHL potential With fewer targets to work with, James Hagens continued to look like an NHL star in the making. He is an extremely talented skater. He is quick, able, and able to make such sharp cuts that other offensive players benefit from them. For instance, he can drive to the top of the slot during the power play and pivot off a smart pass to a teammate who's open. He also has good puck control, and it's hard to get him on one. If there isn't a passing lane, he can shoot himself. He is worried about his size, but he plays hard and can defend himself. He compares several times to the New Jersey Devils' Jack Hughes. Like Hughes, James Hagens can be a great offense if he gets bigger and plays on a first line in the first few years of his NHL career. James Hagens didn't score as many goals this year, but he played great nonetheless. He has been one of the best up-and-coming hockey players for years. With more time to hone his craft, he still seems like a top pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. Also Read: James Hagens Leads Powerful Trio To Golden Season With Smart Plays
