Boston College men’s hockey forward James Hagens, who was drafted by the Boston Bruins with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2025 National Hockey League (NHL) Draft, is already proving to the six teams who passed on the Hauppauge, N.Y., native why they made a mistake.

Just 11 games into his sophomore campaign in Chestnut Hill, Mass., the United States National Team Development Program (USNTDP) product has manufactured four goals and seven assists, averaging a point per game—the same mark that he finished his rookie campaign with in the 2024-25 season.

Hagens’ off-puck awareness, stickhandling ability and puck-control endurance are miles beyond his years—the 5-foot-11, 193-pound forward is only 19 years old—and the season is just in its infant stages.

Hagens could have jumped straight to the professional ranks after the draft if he wanted to. 

Instead, he followed in the footsteps of his former teammates, Ryan Leonard of the Washington Capitals and Gabe Perreault of the New York Rangers—the latter of whom is currently playing in the American Hockey League (AHL) for the Hartford Wolfpack, the Rangers’ affiliate—by returning to the Heights for a second year with eyes set on bringing home a National Championship to the program for the first time since 2012.

On Friday, Hagens jumped on Hockey East’s “This Week in Hockey East” show with Eric Gallanty and Bridgette Proulx to discuss his future in hockey and expectations for the Eagles this season.

It turns out that on draft night, Hagens received a phone call from one of the NHL’s brightest talents, as well as a soon-to-be teammate of his. That player was Boston’s David Pastrnak, the 2020 Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy winner and a four-time NHL All Star.

“Yeah, it was really cool,” Hagens said on the show. “It’s a whirlwind, right away, when you stand up and hear your name called. After [I was drafted] I was getting texts from a bunch of the players. I actually got a facetime that night from [David Pastrnak]. That was really cool.”

Pastrnak, or “Pasta” as he likes to be called, wasn’t the only current Bruin to personally introduce themselves to Hagens.

When Hagens attended NHL rookie camp during the summer, he became familiar with a slew of players on the roster, including head coach Marco Strum, which gave the future leaguer a vision of the culture in the organization’s building.

“I was able to come here, I was able to train here in Boston for a couple weeks over the summer, I was able to meet a bunch of them,” Hagens said. “Great guys, great human beings, they made it feel like home for me.”