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

[JiggsNY]

Who could have guessed the three page NCAA vs CHL education debate would be for nothing.
Seriously though, I'm glad it won't be Harvard. Harvard really doesn't make sense for blue chip prospects who would only spend a very short amnt of time in school, much simpler to head to a traditional big school in a better conference.

 

[bigdog16]

Gotta think it's between Michigan, BC, and BU.

Unless a team out of left field comes in with a monster NIL deal, which I don't see happening. NIL hasn't really found its way to hockey yet.

 

[Hisch13r]

This is from a few people removed so who knows how accurate but a friend who knows a coach that knows Hagens believes it’ll be Michigan. At the very least it’ll one of the top schools. They said they’ll be shocked if it’s London. Also they’ve kept things really hush hush

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I'm sticking with BU. They've been getting the best recruits of any program recently. Michigan's reign is mostly over, if you look at commitments for future years and not past years. BC had that one great year, but otherwise hasn't really been that potent with recruiting recently. Minnesota is always going to be a big pull, but he's probably staying in the North East, so I doubt Eiserman will be able to convince him.

Maybe Michigan State, if you wanted an underdog. They've been recruiting as well or arguably better than Michigan the last few classes.

If you wanted to go very left-field, North Dakota's class for 2006 born players is very strong (they added another NTDP player a few days ago from Hagens' NTDP class), and it's probably one of the only schools where his brother would get a significant role too. If Michael goes to BU or somewhere like that, is he really going to play until his junior or senior year?

 

[clevelandcane]

I have my money on Michigan. Go Blue!

 

[FireBird71]

Michigan along with a few more 07 studs

 

[Dux917]

I'm sticking with BU. They've been getting the best recruits of any program recently. Michigan's reign is mostly over, if you look at commitments for future years and not past years. BC had that one great year, but otherwise hasn't really been that potent with recruiting recently. Minnesota is always going to be a big pull, but he's probably staying in the North East, so I doubt Eiserman will be able to convince him.

Maybe Michigan State, if you wanted an underdog. They've been recruiting as well or arguably better than Michigan the last few classes.

If you wanted to go very left-field, North Dakota's class for 2006 born players is very strong (they added another NTDP player a few days ago from Hagens' NTDP class), and it's probably one of the only schools where his brother would get a significant role too. If Michael goes to BU or somewhere like that, is he really going to play until his junior or senior year?

Minnesota could very well be in the mix. Supposedly he also visited Notre Dame and Providence this summer too...

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Minnesota could very well be in the mix. Supposedly he also visited Notre Dame and Providence this summer too...

I had read about Providence being in the mix. Not Notre Dame. Both of those programs (and I know you are a Providence fan) play with a very integrated structure and system under very established coaches. They don’t usually attract top-tier recruits, and I think one of the reasons is that the best recruits want to play closer to a junior hockey style. That’s why I’m pretty much counting those two out, but I have no clue. Only guessing.

 

[sigx15]

I had read about Providence being in the mix. Not Notre Dame. Both of those programs (and I know you are a Providence fan) play with a very integrated structure and system under very established coaches. They don’t usually attract top-tier recruits, and I think one of the reasons is that the best recruits want to play closer to a junior hockey style. That’s why I’m pretty much counting those two out, but I have no clue. Only guessing.

Providence has more of a shot than Notre Dame would in my mind just due to how much of a connection they have to Mount. Hagens and his family would have a lot of familiarity with the staff there with how much they scout Mount games & practices as well as with how many kids from there they've committed. I think they have 3 former Mount players on the roster and 4 or 5 committed currently so it's a big pipeline

 

[ndmd99]

I had read about Providence being in the mix. Not Notre Dame. Both of those programs (and I know you are a Providence fan) play with a very integrated structure and system under very established coaches. They don’t usually attract top-tier recruits, and I think one of the reasons is that the best recruits want to play closer to a junior hockey style. That’s why I’m pretty much counting those two out, but I have no clue. Only guessing.

It wouldn’t shock me if Notre Dame is in the mix (esp now that the brothers are a package deal). D is ND’s biggest need this recruiting cycle.

NCAA allowed schools to add an extra asst coach this year. Most schools that chose to add one, just promoted a volunteer, added a former player, etc. ND brought in Brock Sheehan who was head coach for the Steel from 2019-2022.

Pretty sure Sheehan was brought in to attract high profile recruits, change play style, and think he’s may be groomed as the next head coach when Jeff Jackson retires.

 

[montreal]

BU would make sense for them since they would want to replace the loss of William Zellers who is rumored to have de-committed for the '24-'25 season. They could be a top team in the NCAA this season so that could help the decision perhaps.

 

[Bonin21]

Wouldn't surprise me at all. They could use him as a way to get Celebrini an extra year, and they could use Fondrk and Morin (and probably Potter) as a way to get Hagens an extra year.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

BU also has two of his NTDP teammates already committed for 2024-25, Hutson and Bednarik.

 

[chi1999]

BU would make sense for them since they would want to replace the loss of William Zellers who is rumored to have de-committed for the '24-'25 season. They could be a top team in the NCAA this season so that could help the decision perhaps.

BU would make sense since they un-committed a forward (Zellers) and defenseman(Janviriya) the other day, which makes you wonder considering the timing. Though, I think Michigan and BC make a lot of sense, especially BC with currently zero defenseman recruits. I think BU will be tough for Michael Hagens to earn an established role.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Who knows all the ins and outs of it, but Bedard was also loaned so he didn't sign a specific agreement with the Swedish club (I guess outside of whatever consent to be loaned deal).

Either way, we know Matthews didn't play Swiss Pro games until his 18th birthday. How many other American or Canadian kids played in a Euro Pro League prior to their Draft year?

Off the top of my head Brandt Clarke played in Slovakia and several others did during COVID.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Off the top of my head Brandt Clarke played in Slovakia and several others did during COVID.

I know Brandt played 26 games in the Slovak Pro League, but he turned 18 halfway through the 2020-21 season (2/29/21 was his 18th birthday) so I'm not sure how many (if any?) were prior to his 18th birthday.

 

[Hisch13r]

This is from a few people removed so who knows how accurate but a friend who knows a coach that knows Hagens believes it’ll be Michigan. At the very least it’ll one of the top schools. They said they’ll be shocked if it’s London. Also they’ve kept things really hush hush

lol Now he told me London’s a possibility so it really seems like no one has a clue what he’ll do

 

[bigdog16]

lol Now he told me London’s a possibility so it really seems like no one has a clue what he’ll do

London would drop the biggest bag on him so I don't see it out of the realm of possibility.

He would get a lot more from London than any NIL deal he could get

 

[William H Bonney]

Every sign still points to college. He wants to play with his brother. He probably wants to play at Harvard but knew it wasn't the right spot given his prospect status. And now his brother is no longer committed to Harvard. And a very connected Mark Divver said the expectation is they're going to school together.

 

[Dux917]

 

[William H Bonney]

Notre Dame would be an odd fit stylistically for a guy that should be a one-and-done.

 

[ndmd99]

Notre Dame would be an odd fit stylistically for a guy that should be a one-and-done.

I get what you're saying, but there's a lot of smoke pointing toward the Irish recently if you use the unscientific method of who he's following recently on IG in the past week (which is a number of former and current ND players).

James can go anywhere and is likely a one-and-done. What's likely the bigger limiting factor is the package deal with his brother (who won't be one-and-done). Scholarship availability and projected D depth charts for Michael probably make many of the teams speculated in this thread unlikely (or impossible) landing spots.

 

[clevelandcane]

Go Blue!

Gotta "speak' it into existence.

 

[William H Bonney]

I get what you're saying, but there's a lot of smoke pointing toward the Irish recently if you use the unscientific method of who he's following recently on IG in the past week (which is a number of former and current ND players).

James can go anywhere and is likely a one-and-done. What's likely the bigger limiting factor is the package deal with his brother (who won't be one-and-done). Scholarship availability and projected D depth charts for Michael probably make many of the teams speculated in this thread unlikely (or impossible) landing spots.

I was more pointing to the fact that Notre Dame plays a very conservative, defensive style. I don't think it's a great fit for a guy like Hagens who plays a dynamic offensive game. He's the caliber of guy who's probably going to be fine no matter where he goes but I am a bit surprised to see him considering Notre Dame because of it.

 

[morganpt]

As a season ticket holding Michigan fan, I sure hope that Michigan pans out. The new assistant coaches at U-M have some history with the Hagens brothers. Matt Deschamps was Michael Hagens' Associate Coach for the Chicago Steel and Kevin Reiter was the director of player personnel at the NTDP during James Hagens tenure with the program. Michigan has a recruiting pipeline with both programs, so fingers crossed. I would love to see Michigan's top line centered by Hagens and have incoming freshman Michael Hage as the 2C...

After seeing James Hagens at the U17 NDTP and seeing him drive play at the Summer Showcase, I'm dreaming a bit here after recovering from the magic Fantilli brought to the Yost last season.