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F James Hagens - Boston College, NCAA (2025 Draft) Part 2

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wickedwitch said:
So I don't know about all teams, but I know the Caps are giving guys like Cristall and Leonard instructions/advice during the season. Both players have talked about this. Cristall, for example, said his workout plan was from the Caps. Neither mentioned specifically how that was coordinated with their current coaches.
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Yeah it probably varies from org to org, the guys I was familiar with were in the Minnesota, St. Louis, Columbus and Montréal organizations. The overarching point I was trying to make relating to my comment about dev camps and organizational follow ups is that it would not greatly increase a player’s level (in the background so to speak) compared to the coaching and guidance they’re already getting with their current team
 
AlternateSideParking said:
BC (.552) and Michigan (.553) are essentially tied for the highest SoS in the NCAA, which uses USCHO's rankings, which uses RPI, which uses SoS. A huuuuge part of any RPI is strength of schedule.

Here is the official link:

Men's Division I RPI | Ratings Percentage Index | Rankings - College Hockey | USCHO.com

Rankings College Hockey Rankings, USCHO Poll, USA Today Poll, PairEWise rankings, PWR, PairWise Comaparison, RPI, Ratings Percentage Index
www.uscho.com www.uscho.com

Question -- Did you just begin following college sports? I know they're not big at all in Canada, so maybe that explains it. Well, here in the U.S., SoS and RPI are quite relevant come bowl season, March Madness, and Frozen Four time, among other NCAA championship tournaments.
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AlternateSideParking said:
BC (.552) and Michigan (.553) are essentially tied for the highest SoS in the NCAA, which uses USCHO's rankings, which uses RPI, which uses SoS. A huuuuge part of any RPI is strength of schedule.

Here is the official link:

Men's Division I RPI | Ratings Percentage Index | Rankings - College Hockey | USCHO.com

Rankings College Hockey Rankings, USCHO Poll, USA Today Poll, PairEWise rankings, PWR, PairWise Comaparison, RPI, Ratings Percentage Index
www.uscho.com www.uscho.com

Question -- Did you just begin following college sports? I know they're not big at all in Canada, so maybe that explains it. Well, here in the U.S., SoS and RPI are quite relevant come bowl season, March Madness, and Frozen Four time, among other NCAA championship tournaments.
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I know how RPI and SOS works but with all the mistakes they make in the NCAA offices I am kind of sceptical on them applying it properly.

I used to follow NCAA hockey pretty closely but since moving to Canada have mostly stuck to the WHL rinks. I'll have to admit that now I much prefer the WHL to NCAA now. NCAA just doesn't have the same physicality as the WHL. I find the WHL more closely resembles the NHL than any other league I've been to with all that hitting and rough stuff. Just my personal preference.
 
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CLW said:
Since this is the James Hagens thread, which NHL player is a good positive comparison for his projected game at the NHL level? I personally see Turcotte 2.0 and that's not very appealing for a top 1-3 (top 5?) pick. Here's a good player in a good environment playing good hockey, but where's that next gear?
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Better Tomas Hertl
 
AlternateSideParking said:
I like how I asked for anyone to name a better forward in this draft than Hagens, and the best we got is “watch Misa play”. Like I f***ing haven’t all season lol. I swear you guys must like living on a hamster wheel.

Misa is a turnover-prone passer for a projected first-overall pick and faces the weakest goaltending of all major or European junior leagues. It’s also his third full OHL season and was cut from Canada’s WJC team. He was disappointing in both games of the CHL-NTDP challenge and showed a lack of maturity when he was suspended for the Teddy Bear Toss incident.

Martone is a turnover-prone winger with below average speed who goes through droughts of ineffectiveness. It also is his third full OHL season. He was a healthy scratch at the WJC and his post-WJC production has dropped from 2.08 before to 1.46 through March 2. He has not consistently played like projected No. 1 pick for some time and could be playing himself out of the top five.

Frondell has had multiple injuries dating back to last year, including the knee. A potentially serious long-term concern. Other than that he’s been either dominant or snake-bitten.

Want me to go on? Eklund? Desnoyers? Bear? McQueen lol?
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I think you might not be listening to the criticism and analysis people provide.

I heard an NHL scout say that the error people often make is to look for the best player on the ice rather than the player who's skills too good for the level he plays at.

When I watch Hagens, I see a player who's good enough for the level he's at. He seems to keep up or almost keep up in the games he plays. He's not the best player on the ice most of the time but he's pretty close, he would be the best if he played junior hockey. He doesn't take over games the same way that guys like Fantilli did, he's not as effective as Celebrini was. Nothing about his game transcends the game he plays, nothing stands out as a level above the talent he plays with.

I found there's 2 players from this year's draft who, though they aren't as good as Hagens is now, possess skills that are of a higher level than Hagens. Misa and Desnoyers.

If it's a debate between great but inconsistent or good but consistent, I find I have to go great but inconsistent. There's 2 guys in the draft who have higher skill ceilings than Hagens. I don't see it from Martone, I don't see it from McQueen, I haven't deep dived Frondell and Eklund yet but those 2 guys are easy enough choices above Hagens for me for the reasons above.
 
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temp_image_BD376C3A-9581-428C-B9C8-EC8CB6E737E0.webp

Finishes the regular season 9-25-34 in 34GP
 
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I know I'm alone with this but I hope Davidson does the right thing.
I trust in Hagenss D+1 year
 
Nazzz said:
I know I'm alone with this but I hope Davidson does the right thing.
I trust in Hagenss D+1 year
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That would be back at BC for one more season and then joining the Hawks at the end of next season.

I know the Hawks took a late birthdate in last years draft and put him right in the AHL, but Levshunov was not only a much more dominant player at the NCAA level as a freshman, he was also more physically developed.

I would hate to see Hagens given the Mittelstadt/Turcotte/Wahlstrom development path.
 
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So this is my "scouting" report on Hagens after watching a ton of BC games this year. I think I'm pretty objective about him, because the Caps obviously won't be drafting him.

Hagens has been a top 6 C all year. His 5v5 production has been excellent although maybe not elite. He has been on PP1 most of the year, with a short stint on PP2. BC's PP has been bad (and worse when you consider the talent), but I put no blame on Hagens for that. He doesn't really PK, but that's because the coach tries to spread out opportunity and not because of Hagens' performance, as he was solid in the short amount of time he did PK.

So one very common misconception is that he's played the whole year or even most of the year with Leonard and Perreault as his linemates. This is not accurate. The line with him, Perreault, and Leonard never brought out the best in either Leonard or Hagens. So while he's had a lot of games with them, he's also many other line combinations. The best was probably Perreault, Stiga, and him (which has been broken up for reasons I strongly disagree with but nobody asked me).

(For the record, the Perreault-Hagens-Leonard line is not a bad line. With that much talent, they'd have to be actively trying to be bad. But it doesn't take full advantage of their abilities and may even (slightly) hinder their development. And Greg Brown knows this, because he broke them up in the first place!)

His biggest strength is his hockey IQ. He's an excellent playmaker. His shot is solid. He's a very good skater. I'm not sure if any of his skills are elite or if the combination will be elite, but I expect his play to translate very well to the NHL after another season in college. He is a natural center in almost every possible way to the point where I worry that his game won't translate to the wing if an NHL team chooses to start him there instead of at center.

Hagens' biggest weakness is his lack of strength. (He's tall enough at 5'10.5 that I'm not that worried about his height in isolation as a forward.) This manifests because he tries to get to dirty areas on offense but then (sometimes) fails. And he's in the right position (generally) defensively, but loses battles because he's mostly playing against 20-25 year old men. But his instincts are all spot on. He wants to get to the middle of the ice, and he knows where to be defensively. And instincts and hockey IQ are much, much harder to change than the lack of strength from a hardworking 18 year old.

As a result, I strongly believe Hagens has the highest floor in the draft. I have a very hard time seeing him as anything less than a good 2C, because even if his offense doesn't pop at the NHL level, it will be solid, as will his defense.

His ceiling is less clear. I still believe his ceiling is that of an elite 1C in the NHL, getting 90-100 points yearly plus very good but not quite Selke level defense. But I get why people worry about the lack of upside given his offensive production this year.

In general, I've seen enough "special" plays that I feel like odds are in his favor of hitting higher offensive potential and becoming a very good 1C.
 
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wickedwitch said:
So this is my "scouting" report on Hagens after watching a ton of BC games this year. I think I'm pretty objective about him, because the Caps obviously won't be drafting him.

Hagens has been a top 6 C all year. His 5v5 production has been excellent although maybe not elite. He has been on PP1 most of the year, with a short stint on PP2. BC's PP has been bad (and worse when you consider the talent), but I put no blame on Hagens for that. He doesn't really PK, but that's because the coach tries to spread out opportunity and not because of Hagens' performance, as he was solid in the short amount of time he did PK.

So one very common misconception is that he's played the whole year or even most of the year with Leonard and Perreault as his linemates. This is not accurate. The line with him, Perreault, and Leonard never brought out the best in either Leonard or Hagens. So while he's had a lot of games with them, he's also many other line combinations. The best was probably Perreault, Stiga, and him (which has been broken up for reasons I strongly disagree with but nobody asked me).

(For the record, the Perreault-Hagens-Leonard line is not a bad line. With that much talent, they'd have to be actively trying to be bad. But it doesn't take full advantage of their abilities and may even (slightly) hinder their development. And Greg Brown knows this, because he broke them up in the first place!)

His biggest strength is his hockey IQ. He's an excellent playmaker. His shot is solid. He's a very good skater. I'm not sure if any of his skills are elite or if the combination will be elite, but I expect his play to translate very well to the NHL after another season in college. He is a natural center in almost every possible way to the point where I worry that his game won't translate to the wing if an NHL team chooses to start him there instead of at center.

Hagens' biggest weakness is his lack of strength. (He's tall enough at 5'10.5 that I'm not that worried about his height in isolation as a forward.) This manifests because he tries to get to dirty areas on offense but then (sometimes) fails. And he's in the right position (generally) defensively, but loses battles because he's mostly playing against 20-25 year old men. But his instincts are all spot on. He wants to get to the middle of the ice, and he knows where to be defensively. And instincts and hockey IQ are much, much harder to change than the lack of strength from a hardworking 18 year old.

As a result, I strongly believe Hagens has the highest floor in the draft. I have a very hard time seeing him as anything less than a good 2C, because even if his offense doesn't pop at the NHL level, it will be solid, as will his defense.

His ceiling is less clear. I still believe his ceiling is that of an elite 1C in the NHL, getting 90-100 points yearly plus very good but not quite Selke level defense. But I get why people worry about the lack of upside given his offensive production this year.

In general, I've seen enough "special" plays that I feel like odds are in his favor of hitting higher offensive potential and becoming a very good 1C.
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Thanks for the detailed notes. I don't know where he'll go in the draft but he's a really high end talent (elite is used far too often by most folks). I do think another year in college would benefit him.
 
clevelandcane said:
Thanks for the detailed notes. I don't know where he'll go in the draft but he's a really high end talent (elite is used far too often by most folks). I do think another year in college would benefit him.
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He's definitely not going to be drafted 1 or 2, so I think there will be basically zero pressure on him to go pro after 1 year. Another year at BC will be great for his development. He's not a young guy that has a stocky frame like some. There's a ton of strength he can add without sacrificing speed/agility.
 
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Having a strong opener. Already with a nice assist and could have had another but Leonard missed a wide-open net. Had several bang-bang chips under pressure that led to breakouts.

Still maintaining a point-per-game pace as a college freshman. Still the best pure playmaker and passer in the draft.
 
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