Training camp is running out of runway in Boston, and that means the Bruins are getting close to some uncomfortable roster calls. One of the biggest questions centers on James Hagens, who has kept making his case for a spot.
Hagens, the seventh overall pick in the 2025 Entry Draft, has carried over the momentum he built at the Prospect Showcase a couple of weeks ago in Western New York, where he impressed in two games against Buffalo Sabres prospects. He has looked the part again in camp and preseason, and second-year coach Marco Sturm made it clear he has noticed the difference.
“When he came last year, I felt like he was just a little kid. He’s still a kid - he looks like it in the face - but on the ice, it just feels a little bit different.
Part of it is he’s more confident out there. He’s not as nervous.
Now he knows us, he knows the system, he knows everything, he knows the players, he knows how we have to play,” Sturm said, per Belle Fraser of BostonBruins.com. “He already looks different to me than last season.
He’s bigger, stronger.”
Hagens backed that up in his first preseason game Sunday night against the Washington Capitals. Boston pulled out a 3-2 shootout win, and Hagens scored the only goal in the shootout by slipping a shot through Logan Thompson’s legs.
He’ll get another look Thursday night against the Philadelphia Flyers, though the lineup around him will be different. Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov are not playing, and Sturm did not reveal exactly who Hagens will skate with. There is a chance he gets some shifts with fellow prospect Dans Locmelis.
For now, the Bruins appear likely to keep the “Kid Line” together to begin the season, based on the signs from camp and Sunday’s preseason game against Washington. The official call won’t come until next Tuesday night, when Boston opens the season at home against the New York Rangers at TD Garden. Minten and Khusnutdinov are not making the quick two-game trip that wraps up Friday night against the Capitals in Washington.
And if the early evidence means anything, Hagens has done enough to make this a real conversation. Alex Steeves, Mikey Eyssimont, and the other veterans have not clearly outplayed him, which leaves the door open for Hagens to earn an Opening Night roster spot.
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