(Photo Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig/Imagn Images)

By: Eamonn McLean | Follow me on Twitter/X @EamonnMcLean44

When the Boston Bruins drafted James Hagens seventh overall in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, it signaled changes for the Original Six franchise. The team hadn’t drafted this high since selecting Tyler Seguin second overall in 2010. The Sweater Hagens put on after Happy Gilmore star Adam Sandler announced his name to the crowd at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles was a throwback to the team’s jersey designs in the 1980s and 90s, contrasting with the modern Spoked-B style that the team wore when they won the Stanley Cup in 2011. A Bruins rookie has not won the Calder Memorial Trophy since Andrew Raycroft in the 2003-04 season, nor have they been a finalist for the award since then. Could that be about to change, too?

After turning pro late last year, following the conclusion of his Sophomore season at Boston College, Hagens did not have an easy go in the NHL. He managed a secondary assist in two regular-season games before being held scoreless in three playoff games, ultimately being a healthy scratch for Games four through six of the B’s first-round playoff defeat at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres. After a quiet seven games at the IIHF World Championships, some wondered if he’d even start the year in the NHL.

Ten games into the 2026-2027 NHL season, Hagens has surpassed even the highest expectations for him so far this year. The Hauppauge, New York, native is tied for the rookie lead in points at seven, alongside San Jose Sharks forward Ivar Stenberg and Vegas Golden Knights Forward Trevor Connelly. But perhaps what’s most impressive about that production is how he’s done it. Hagens has not spent a second in the Bruins’ top-six so far this season, nor has he been on the team’s top power-play unit, opportunities that are typically required for young players to produce at the level that he has so far this season.

The Bruins are off to a fantastic 7-2-1 start this season, and there hasn’t been much reason to shuffle the top six beyond a one-game absence for Pavel Zacha due to injury. However, if the B’s need to shake things up at some point for one reason or another, you’d have to think Hagens would be next in line for a promotion, and perhaps an opportunity to produce even more than he already has. It’s also not hard to envision his zone-entry ability helping the top power play unit at some point this season.

Hagens is, in many ways, the crown jewel of the Bruins’ youth movement that began at the 2025 Trade Deadline. While Fraser Minten, Matt Poitras, Frederic Brunet, JJ Peterka, and Marat Khusnutdinov have added speed, skill, and excitement to an organization that desperately needed it, it’s hard to argue that any of them have a ceiling as high as Hagens. The first ten games of the season have shown that perhaps the ceiling for both Hagens and the Bruins’ is higher than we thought.