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

[Juxtaposer]

Anyone reading into points that much, especially after only six games of which the early season schedules can be wildly different in terms of difficulty...

Hagens will get his points because he's very skilled and playing with Leonard and Perreault on a stacked BC team. It's more about the fact that I haven't been blown away when watching him so far this season. Certainly hasn't been bad, but I was expecting more from him.

While he is the incumbent top ranked prospect for a reason, I don't think he's separated himself from Martone, Misa, and Schaefer. Right now, I see the four of them all in the same tier, which I would call "below average 1st overall caliber". All clearly behind Celebrini last year but ahead of the rest except perhaps Demidov. I think 1st overall is wide open for any of those four to grab.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1854722259308429534

Misleading tweet. Harder schedule and shooting 6%.

 

[Corso]

Six games played is such a small sample size to make any determinations. Let's wait until the 15-18 game mark before making any comparisons. IMO, he will rank up there with the best.

 

[Leviathan899]

I’ve already stated my opinion on Celebrini and Hagens in another thread so I won’t reiterate that here.

However I think between this and the scheduling complaints in the summer you seem think there’s a TSN/Hockey Canada conspiracy, which I can assure you if you listened to the initial McKenzie draft show there wasn’t, they were all very complimentary of his game and I think 9 of the 10 first place votes went to him, and there was no sharpshooting at all

If anything these days, there’s a strong bias in the media and independent scouts to over hype Americans and downplay Canadian kids. See it nearly every year, and the NTDP is a big part of it.

 

[Leviathan899]

McKenzie used a scout quote saying Hagens’ size was a concern, which was always bullshit, and Button recently pushed Martone for 1OA, which is BS as well. Both are Canadian, both are in the media, and both work for TSN.

TSN just posted a YT video calling Martone a “Potential 1st overall pick.

Martone is not in Hagens’ class, end of story.

Martone absolutely is in his class. While I’d still take Hagens right now if given the choice, they’re close. Hagens clears him in some areas and then Martone clears him in others. Martone is a guy who could be a 90-100 point player in his prime while being a pain in the ass to play against and has big time leadership qualities.

 

[Leviathan899]

Hagens already cemented himself as a 1st overall pick months before the season. He’s done nothing wrong - literally nothing — that would change that. The narrative shifted with Martone lighting up a joke league.

Did you see them head to head in August? Huge disparity in a big game. One guy was beyond sloppy and invisible, the other wasn’t. Flip the script and the narrative would hurt Hagens’ status.

Also, Martone is in his third OHL season with a massive size advantage playing against 16-19 YO dmen with a minor threat of physicality. Put Martone in the NCAA and facing Augustine, Posch, and Slukynsky in the early season, and I guarantee you he’s not padding the stats that make people like yourself think he’s in the conversation. And even still, Hagens is leading Boston College in scoring.

I’ll buy Schaefer going 1OA over Hagens than Martone.

Well let’s consider Martone is a much better prospect than Hage, who’s leading Michigan in scoring right now. While Hage is good himself, both played on the JRC in MM and Martone was better, by far. Martone would be right there with Hagens. Calling the OHL a joke of a league is flat out hilarious, but not surprising coming from you. Most biased “scout” in the game. You’re also basing this off one game in august haha like come on. I watched a game this year where Cal Ritchie blew the doors off Will Smith head to head, does that mean Ritchie is a better prospect than Smith?

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

Calling the OHL a joke of a league is flat out hilarious

Yeah. You can make the argument it's probably over-drafted, but calling it a joke, is, well, a joke.

 

[Leviathan899]

The OHL was once a great league. That is no longer the case. I called it a joke league compared to what it used to be. Just because it drafts the most players doesn’t mean they’re turning into quality NHL’ers, if they even make it. The WHL to me has always been superior in recent years terms of NHL readiness. The NCAA also has been better in recent years at producing quality NHL talent.

Look at all the top scorers and top rookie scorers since 2018. Less and less OHL representation from those 25 and under. The OHL had great runs in the 2000s and 2010s but it’s really petered off. Most of the NHL’s best OHL-trained players are in their late 20s or in their 30s. This isn’t news — Canadian players are leaving for the U.S. and Americans are staying home to play college. It’s silly to deny the drop in quality when the CHL is being bled white from a lack of revenue, mostly from the sharp decrease in Canadian kids who play hockey in general.

Quality of play in the OHL is terrible. Poor execution, lack of fundamentals, etc. It’s gotten way soft, the pace is dull, and the goaltending is horrific. I watch every league and the OHL is by far the least exciting. Last night I watched a Brampton-Windsor replay and the pace and execution was dreadful. Even the announcers brought it up.

Part of my frustration is that I have to watch it. It’s ugly hockey and Martone lighting it up is no major accomplishment to me. He’s also a winger who overhandles the puck and often turns it over. Again, he hasn’t done enough to challenge Hagens beyond piling up points in an easy league to do so. The love affair is basically from his stats and to me it’s a slippery slope.

And I dont put much stock into tournaments. League play and postseason is 90 percent of the evaluation for all players. But head-to-head cannot be ignored no matter the stage, especially between 1OA and any challengers. McKenzie made no mention of Hagens outplaying Martone at the WJSS. It established a baseline and will be relevant when discussing overall bodies of work. Again, if Martone had a hat trick to beat the US, it would literally be front-page news in Canada.

You’re entitled to your opinion but I highly disagree. OHL is still the most skilled league of all CHL leagues, and clears the ncaa by a wide margin. There are 4-5 ncaa teams with stacked rosters, and then the talent level is equivalent to the BCHL, with older players. Canada itself had a couple of down years but even then, it’s only down compared to the dominance they had for so long. We’re starting to see more OHL guys do well in the 21-24 age group now too. Look at McMichael, nobody would have said he’s better than Turcotte, Zegras back in their draft years, but he is now. I watch a lot of OHL hockey and I also watch a lot of NCAA hockey, and the talent level in the OHL is much higher overall. Every league has sloppy play, the ncaa is no exception. A lot of the ncaa games I watch are so low scoring and low event that it’s a snooze fest, as both teams grind each other into the ice with very little talent. Scoring in the OHL is high because there’s so much high end skill and talent, and while I agree the goaltending isn’t where it needs to be, there’s still very good goalies. Carter George would be a top ncaa goalie this year. USA hockey is just becoming incredibly overrated, but it’s showing serious cracks right now. The NTDP hasn’t had much success the last few years. 4 first rounders for America last year compared to the 19 Canadians, and 17 of them being CHL players. OHL is going to have at least 4 guys go in the top 10. And while I still really enjoy ncaa hockey, two of the countries best programs, Michigan and NoDak, have Canadian kids leading their team in scoring. If Hage can lead Michigan and Boisvert can lead NoDak, there’s plenty of OHL guys who would be able to do the same or better.

The OHL was once a great league. That is no longer the case. I called it a joke league compared to what it used to be. Just because it drafts the most players doesn’t mean they’re turning into quality NHL’ers, if they even make it. The WHL to me has always been superior in recent years terms of NHL readiness. The NCAA also has been better in recent years at producing quality NHL talent.

Look at all the top scorers and top rookie scorers since 2018. Less and less OHL representation from those 25 and under. The OHL had great runs in the 2000s and 2010s but it’s really petered off. Most of the NHL’s best OHL-trained players are in their late 20s or in their 30s. This isn’t news — Canadian players are leaving for the U.S. and Americans are staying home to play college. It’s silly to deny the drop in quality when the CHL is being bled white from a lack of revenue, mostly from the sharp decrease in Canadian kids who play hockey in general.

Quality of play in the OHL is terrible. Poor execution, lack of fundamentals, etc. It’s gotten way soft, the pace is dull, and the goaltending is horrific. I watch every league and the OHL is by far the least exciting. Last night I watched a Brampton-Windsor replay and the pace and execution was dreadful. Even the announcers brought it up.

Part of my frustration is that I have to watch it. It’s ugly hockey and Martone lighting it up is no major accomplishment to me. He’s also a winger who overhandles the puck and often turns it over. Again, he hasn’t done enough to challenge Hagens beyond piling up points in an easy league to do so. The love affair is basically from his stats and to me it’s a slippery slope.

And I dont put much stock into tournaments. League play and postseason is 90 percent of the evaluation for all players. But head-to-head cannot be ignored no matter the stage, especially between 1OA and any challengers. McKenzie made no mention of Hagens outplaying Martone at the WJSS. It established a baseline and will be relevant when discussing overall bodies of work. Again, if Martone had a hat trick to beat the US, it would literally be front-page news in Canada.

No Canadians I know care one iota about the WJSS. In fact most don’t even know it happened. It’s a game in the middle of the summer. I agree Hagens had a better game than Martone did, but there were Canadian players who played better than Hagens, and I wouldn’t necessarily say that makes them better prospects than him either.

 

[Leviathan899]

I have to say that I saw all the Kournianos bashing and figured I would look back at all his statements in this thread, ready to pounce on his anti-Canada and anti-OHL. Tough to argue with him once he explains things logically. Very well written and researched, and he does have a point that the OHL has indeed gone downhill, while NCAA continues to rise. Yes Martone is a great prospect, but I can't find any other scouts ranking him above Hagens. Be happy you've got a guy like this that you can read, think about what he says, and look in our Canadian mirror (Hockey Canada is very toxic). I'm sure he's not always right but he doesn't act like a cry baby and actually responds to critiques.

You should look up Reid Boucher and how USA hockey handled that. Just as bad as anything hockey Canada did, if not worse. Not to mention John Vanbiesbrouck.

Yeah. You can make the argument it's probably over-drafted, but calling it a joke, is, well, a joke.

I’d argue it’s under drafted imo. The 2 years NHL teams have to sign CHL players leaves a lot of players who are worth 4-7 round picks undrafted as teams likely know they won’t want to make that decision so soon, so they opt for a Minnesota Hs kid or a USHL kid knowing they have 4 years to decide to sign. You’d see even more OHL kids picked if the same rule applied. It was a rule put in place to counter the NHL-CHL agreement as well as give USA hockey more of an advantage.

 

[Mathieukferland]

Misleading tweet. Harder schedule and shooting 6%.

I think the point of the tweet was to show what company he is keeping, but I look forward to seeing him live (in person!) in Ottawa to have a more in depth look

 

[lokomotiv15]

The OHL was once a great league. That is no longer the case. I called it a joke league compared to what it used to be. Just because it drafts the most players doesn’t mean they’re turning into quality NHL’ers, if they even make it. The WHL to me has always been superior in recent years terms of NHL readiness. The NCAA also has been better in recent years at producing quality NHL talent.

Look at all the top scorers and top rookie scorers since 2018. Less and less OHL representation from those 25 and under. The OHL had great runs in the 2000s and 2010s but it’s really petered off. Most of the NHL’s best OHL-trained players are in their late 20s or in their 30s. This isn’t news — Canadian players are leaving for the U.S. and Americans are staying home to play college. It’s silly to deny the drop in quality when the CHL is being bled white from a lack of revenue, mostly from the sharp decrease in Canadian kids who play hockey in general.

Quality of play in the OHL is terrible. Poor execution, lack of fundamentals, etc. It’s gotten way soft, the pace is dull, and the goaltending is horrific. I watch every league and the OHL is by far the least exciting. Last night I watched a Brampton-Windsor replay and the pace and execution was dreadful. Even the announcers brought it up.

Part of my frustration is that I have to watch it. It’s ugly hockey and Martone lighting it up is no major accomplishment to me. He’s also a winger who overhandles the puck and often turns it over. Again, he hasn’t done enough to challenge Hagens beyond piling up points in an easy league to do so. The love affair is basically from his stats and to me it’s a slippery slope.

And I dont put much stock into tournaments. League play and postseason is 90 percent of the evaluation for all players. But head-to-head cannot be ignored no matter the stage, especially between 1OA and any challengers. McKenzie made no mention of Hagens outplaying Martone at the WJSS. It established a baseline and will be relevant when discussing overall bodies of work. Again, if Martone had a hat trick to beat the US, it would literally be front-page news in Canada.

The OHL still produces the 2nd most players in the NHL after the NCAA (over 20%), while playing in the CHL which produces over 40% of players in the NHL.

People are commenting that you're a scout or analyst, which I will assume is on some godaddy website you payed for and not that someone actually pays you for any insight. Thank god, because I wouldn't want anyone who pays your bills catching that hot take.

The OHL isn't producing quite at the level that it used to with some higher end players deciding to go the USHL to NCAA route, but it's still a top developmental league in the world.

Oh, and Martone is every bit on Hagens level. I'd still pick Hagens 1OA today, but it's more than close and could easily swing in the next half a year.