James Hagens shows why he's NHL-ready in strong Bruins debut originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Boston Bruins top prospect James Hagens made his much-anticipated NHL debut Sunday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, and the 19-year-old forward played very well.
It wasn’t a meaningless game, either. Yes, the Bruins had already clinched a playoff spot, but their final seed remains TBD despite beating the Blue Jackets 3-2 at Nationwide Arena. And Columbus really needed a win as it tries to earn the third and final playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division.
Against a desperate opponent, Hagens played a strong 200-foot game. The best example came on the Bruins’ second goal.
After starting the rush up ice with a clean breakout pass in the defensive zone, Hagens aggressively forechecked, pinned a Blue Jackets player to the boards and allowed the Bruins to regain puck possession. Sean Kuraly then fed the puck to Henri Jokiharju, who beat Blue Jackets goalie Jet Greaves to give Boston the lead.
Hagens earned a secondary assist for his first career point as a Bruin.
The play was an example of the defensive details and all-around jump that Hagens made at Boston College as a sophomore this past season.
“His offensive game was always there, and he still continues to develop it,” BC head coach Greg Brown told NBC Sports Boston last week. “He’s only 19 years old now, but I think he took huge steps in the rest of his game, becoming a 200-foot player, defensive awareness, defensive detail — all those things that you’re going to need to play in the NHL, James really improved on this year, so it’s great to see.”
Hagens, who skated on a line with Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov, finished with one assist, one shot on net, and three shot attempts in 13:08 of ice time. He also took a hooking penalty in the first period. The one area where we didn’t see Hagens was the power play because the Blue Jackets didn’t take a single penalty.
“It was super cool,” Hagens told reporters postgame. “Really cool building to be able to get that win. It was special. Maybe stay out of the box. But it was a really cool game.”
His line produced more shots, more shot attempts, more scoring chances and more high-danger chances than it gave up. There weren’t any major mistakes from Hagens. He didn’t dominate, but he very much looked like he belonged at the NHL level.
“I thought he was good. I thought the whole line was great,” Bruins head coach Marco Sturm told reporters postgame. “They used their speed. They were not afraid to make plays. They made a lot of good decisions. They never really got into trouble. Coming into Columbus, it’s a tough building. I was curious how James would handle it, and I thought he did a good job.”
Sturm even had enough confidence to put Hagens out on the ice when the Bruins were protecting a one-goal lead in the third period with less than two minutes left on the clock.
What went into that decision?
“It’s because he gave me a reason for it,” Sturm said. “So it’s not just because of his name and he’s a high pick. No, I put him out there because I trusted him and the whole line did a great job, so they deserved to be out there.”
Hagens obviously has the least amount of experience among the forwards in the mix for bottom-six roles, but he has the best combination of speed and offensive skill in that group. He also isn’t going to be pushed around, either. He’s not the biggest player at 5-foot-11 and 177 pounds, but he’s sneaky strong and knows how to play defensively at a level higher than a lot of forwards his age.
Hagens’ next opportunity to display his skills will come Tuesday when the Bruins wrap up their regular season schedule against the New Jersey Devils at TD Garden. After that, Boston’s next matchup will be Game 1 of the first round.
Keeping Hagens in the lineup for the playoffs — at least for the first two games in Round 1 — would be the best decision for the Bruins. You never know how a rookie is going to handle the intensity of the playoffs, but it’s not like Hagens hasn’t played in big games at other points in his hockey career. And he has the maturity and even-keeled mindset that you need to play well in those pressure-packed environments.
All four of the Bruins’ potential first-round opponents have good goaltending and/or defend well, so the B’s are going to need players who can create offense for themselves and others. Hagens fits that description well, whether it’s at even strength or the power play. And until Sunday’s win over the Blue Jackets, the Bruins’ third and fourth lines hadn’t produced much offense since the Olympic break.
If the Bruins were a veteran team and a top contender (like 2023, for example), then maybe it wouldn’t make sense to throw a 19-year-old prospect into the postseason fire.
But this Bruins team wasn’t expected to compete for a playoff spot, let alone get into the tournament. They will be underdogs in every series they play, so why not give Hagens some valuable experience at the highest level?
