Bruins Wrangle POTENTIAL STAR with James Hagens | Pucks with Haggs

Bruins Wrangle POTENTIAL STAR with James Hagens | Pucks with Haggs

welcome to the Pucks with Hags podcast a proud member of the CLNS media network make sure to hit subscribe to the Bruins Ringside YouTube channel and turn on notifications for when a new video drops on this channel the show is also brought to you by Prize Pix the largest daily fantasy sports platform in North America download the Prize Pix app today and use the code CLNS and get $50 instantly when you play five bucks that’s code cls on prize picks to get $50 instantly when you play $5 you don’t even need to win to receive the $50 bonus it’s guaranteed prize picks run your game uh welcome in this is the 202nd episode 202nd let me say that again 202nd episode of the Pucks with Hags podcast thanks as always for listening tuning in interacting asking questions being involved uh liking and sending great comments onto our YouTube page uh we appreciate all of that uh this is going to be a reaction podcast episode to uh the Bruins first round on Friday night we’re recording this on Saturday morning and of course as you well know they picked James Hagens from Boston College with the seventh overall pick so we’re going to delve into that pick quite a bit uh I am your host Joe Haggard you can find my work at joehagerty uh.substack.com subscribe and get yourself a premium membership get all of my NHL and Bruins writing sent straight directly to your inbox i also write columns three times a week for the Boston SportsJournal and do a weekly Q&A so go to bostonportsjournal.com and get yourself a membership there as well awesome website great coverage of all the four Boston professional sports teams so really check that out um I but right now we’re just gonna jump in uh to this episode and we are gonna talk about James Hagens who you know if you had told Bruins fans if you had told Bruins management if you told anybody involved with the Bruins a year ago that they were going to get James Hagens they would have been over the moon excited you would have kind of probably wondered what happened to the Bruins for them to be able to get James Hagens you also would have said to yourself this is one of the premier talents in that draft class in that age in that year that birth year uh and has been through his entire life uh so the Bruins are getting something special here uh they’re getting a really good player they’re getting kind of exactly what they need which is a star a rising star uh a skilled speed player that can create offense and make things happen and that’s exactly what you hope to get when you’re drafting seventh overall when you’re in the lottery when you’re in the top 10 and they got that level of talent with James Hagens and it’s it’s interesting to me that you know he he finishes with 11 goals and 37 points in 37 games for Boston College as a kid that was 17 when the college hockey season started turned 18 I think it was in November pretty early in the college hockey season but he was 17 a 17-year-old going to Boston College and then turning 18 a young kid uh one of the youngest players in college hockey in the entire NCAA’s last year and he still turned in a point per game season on the top line of one of the best programs in the country that was highly successful with a lot of pressure to win a national championship and had a great season like I I don’t some people you know he dropped a little to seven based on maybe not you know scoring uh two points a game or you know having 30 goals in 37 games for Boston College but like look who he was playing with look at the roster that they had at BC they had Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perau you know high skill level first round picks accomplished older players uh in that lineup that had the puck a lot and they had other players too um Andre Gassau Oscar Jelvic go down the line Dean Lerno the Bruins first round pick was in that lineup a lot of really really good players where it the offense was going to be spread out a little bit you know he wasn’t I think in a situation and on a team where he was immediately going to be able to take over and and just like put up Gretzky numbers on a college hockey team people I guess look at and we’ll talk about this later on but people will look uh you know a few generations ago at the real true special NHL talents that played college hockey and the ridiculous numbers they would put up but it’s not the same college hockey world anymore uh college hockey is a much higher much better quality than it was you know 20 30 years ago um and players now there’s a lot more NHL talent in in all on all of those teams and all those rosters and all the programs around uh the country so you’re not going to dominate to that level anymore especially on a program where there’s it’s star-studded and there’s you know a lot of there’s only one puck to go around for so many talented offensive players so I don’t you know I don’t subscribe to Hagens having had any kind of a down season as a true freshman a 17-year-old that turned 18 while he was a freshman at BC and still was a point per game player as a kid fresh out of high school like that is special to me like that tells me he’s dominating and he’s a dominant player against his own peer group obviously but like the kids that are two three years older than him as well which is always the mark of a special talent in hockey uh it’s always what you look at when you’re trying to project how good these young players are going to be is how they play against the older kids uh kids older than them not necessarily even their peers but the year and the two years ahead of them and where they’re at and how they play against them uh to sort of see uh how they measure up and if they’re truly dominant and and he’s been able to do that so like I you know I I come off much higher uh on this pick than like some of the questions I thought at the draft were almost like it you know why was he a disappointment why did he drop to seven all that like I didn’t get any of that i think this is they were lucky uh I think this is fortune finally uh shining on the Bruins a little bit after a tough year and after a tough uh technical difficulty uh with the Bruins management when they’re that awkward awkward uh the draft pick is going to face the tribunal of executives from the team that drafted him uh that they did on ESPN after each player was drafted which it was via satellite or Zoom or whatever um it was like a three-way conversation uh through a Zoom through a satellite feed which is like always awkward bad TV i don’t know why they did that i don’t know why they thought that was a good idea um but it turned in you know the Bruins ended up being the team that was complete technical difficulty snafu and I don’t even think Bruins management knew that uh there was a conversation trying to be had knew that they were live and on the air and uh obviously you know uh Don Sweeney and Cam and and Marggo Sturmis kind of sitting there stonefaced not really able to you know say anything or interact with the draft pick and uh it just came off really awkward um but that was the only you know down note in this entire thing like other than that I this is a player that the Bruins were extremely fortunate to have dropped to them at the seventh overall pick i think they hoped he would be there and I think they also if like then some anybody uh somebody if nobody was there that they really really liked I think they were prepared to trade down and this is something uh that Don Sweeney talked about and I think you know maybe with the Islanders there would have been a deal there where they would have traded down taken their first round picks and taken um uh JG Perau um Pjo JG PJO um to to move down and and help their NHL roster but I think Hagens was a guy they had to take and I think it’s somebody that they really liked he checked so many boxes for them being a Boston College player playing in hockey a college hockey player somebody that went to the US national team development program and frankly was like one of the star players there which is usually a projection of what you’re going to do in the NHL you’re talking guys like Patrick Kane you’re talking guys like Hughes um guy you know Clayton Keller all these players he’s kind of in that vein of of those sort of players um that were like absolute like flamethrowers of offense at the US national program and then went to college hockey and were good players there and these are the kind of players uh that you know put up points in the NHL and and are proven and it’s it’s a proven formula it’s a proven system that cranks out offensive talent and the Bruins are going to get one of these players and they badly needed one um and so I I you know I don’t think you can look on the draft as anything but a huge success last night and a huge uh bit of good fortune with Hagens getting to them when they picked when even probably a month ago they probably thought he was going to be gone in the top five and you know other other teams went in other directions i I it remains to be seen if Brady Martin is a guy that was worth taking uh instead of Hagens um and we’ll see how that goes like there’s things to like about him a hard-nosed kid he decided to stay at the farm in Canada last night instead of going to the draft um you know seems like there’s some interesting things about him and and certainly he may end up being a you know maybe even a Sam Bennett type player in the NHL it’ll be interesting to see how that hat uh plays out but that’s a there’s a risk there that that’s you’re really like projecting somebody that maybe has a lower ceiling offensively and skill-wise than some of these other players is going to be able to get to that level and be worth that kind of selection and you passed over a guy who’s got a proven track record in Hagens of of having done it and you know that there was obviously uh the fact that he’s like 5’11 190 lbs not the biggest guy in the world um maybe at times a little bit of a perimeter player instead of you know getting down by the net um you know I think all of that stuff will have to change and develop at the NHL level obviously um but I think you know that’s something the Bruins are going to are going to insist on and they’re going to want from that player is to is to play uh with a with courage and with uh hunger to to get off get going offensively and there’s probably things he can get away with in in college or at the levels he played at that he’s not going to be be able to get away with the NHL but I think this is common for all skilled players like that and all players that aren’t huge you know that’s not the biggest guy on the ice um you know and Jack Hughes is somebody that that has had to deal with that too and even if he turns out to be a Jack Hughes type player um who I think has some limitations just based on his size and based on the way he plays but is still an extremely productive player for the Devils and is giving them offense uh you know when you need offense in order to make the playoffs in the NHL you have to score goals to win games during the regular season to accumulate points to get into the playoffs it may become one of those things down the line with a guy like Hagens where he has to figure out how to be um successful in the playoffs and how to you know add some elements to his games and get uncomfortable in the playoffs but that we’re projecting a long way from now um you know based on some some cursory sort of ideas of how he plays and his his game i think the bottom line is special offensive talent great speed great skill very productive at all levels this is not a you know a Trent Frederick Johnny Beecher type first round pick where they have never really produced and you’re hoping that they’re going to find another level offensively uh when they get to the pros no this is a guy who has produced offense everywhere he’s gone will continue to produce offense everywhere he goes and will do it at the NHL level um and I think you know the the the fact that he loves Boston the fact that he’s at Boston College the fact that he’s familiar with uh the surroundings and he likes it here and he wants to stay here and he’s excited about being a member of the Bruins i think that’s cherry on top of the Sunday stuff too and that the Bruins love having their prospects uh be local college hockey guys that they can watch very closely and you know it’s going to be a cavalcade of Bruins prospects uh on the the BC roster this coming season with Hagens there with Andre Gassau there with Oscar Jelvik there and with uh Dean Lo there so you’re you’re talking about a a good core nucleus of potential future Bruins players that are all playing together in in college and I think that’s exciting too and that’s something that the Bruins can build on and certainly if BC is a powerhouse this year that’s going to bode very well um as they should be it’s going to bode very well for uh what the Bruins future has and and what some of these players could look like playing together uh at the NHL level so I think there’s some really good exciting things uh about this pick uh much more so than maybe some of the other ones whether it was Jake O’Brien whether it was Brady Martin if you fell to them whether it was Roger McQueen like you know these are all good prospects these are all um players that you project will be good players some of them have come on very strong in the last you know second half of their draft year but you’re talking about a guy in Hagens that people have known forever people have scouted forever the the hockey people around the the North America know the ins and outs about him and have you know he’s been thoroughly vetted and thoroughly tested at the highest levels and comes back as a a a you know gradea blue chip prospect and the kind of player that is going to immediately impact your team and get better as he goes and become an all-star and a 10-year uh plus NHL veteran productive guy like this is what you wanted to get with the number seven overall pick this is the reason you tanked and traded your veterans at the trade deadline and really drove steered the ship into the iceberg during the regular season was to get a special player uh that is going to be the best draft pick that they’ve had uh you know since certainly since David Preneck and and the most exciting draft pick they’ve had in almost 15 years going back to Tyler Sean when he was drafted uh in 2010 and will be an electric player I think in development camp I think he’s going to flash because he’s got the skills and and he’s got the ability to dazzle offensively with his speed and his skill level that you know he’s going to bring a level of excitement to that development camp that has not been there certainly since past and before that Sean um you know he’s that type of guy and it’s been a while since the Bruins have been able to draft a player like that and bring him in and I you know you hate to say can’t miss uh but I really think James Hagens is a can’t miss prospect I what what he brings to the table uh and what he’s done throughout his career this is the kind of guy that’s it’s almost a bulletproof pick you know that this is exactly what the Bruins needed after some questionable picks in the first round after some players that you know they took risks in the first round and sometimes they were too conservative in the first round um you know taking players with lower offensive ceilings that were safe picks that they thought would be you know good midlevel NHL players guys like Frederick and Johnny Beecher and Rovak and this is a player uh that you’re going for it you’re really going out there for the speed and the skill and the offensive ability and you’re going for the highest ceiling players you can go for uh and that usually rewards well um down the line those are the kind of players that If you select them and you draft and develop them properly and you you you bring them along at the right time and with the right amount of patience it pays dividends for you and you just need these kind of players in order to make the playoffs you know you need the big strong heavy mean players um in the playoffs to have success to win playoff series to get further along to get deep into the postseason as we’ve seen with the Florida Panthers as we saw with the Bruins in 2011 like there’s a certain type of player you need if you want to win the cup but there’s also other players that you need if you want to even get into the playoffs in the first place to to accumulate points score goals get enough points to get into the postseason and have enough success during the year uh to get yourselves in the position uh to be in the playoffs and you almost have to be kind of two different styles of teams you have to be a little more offensive minded you have to be able to score on the power play you have to be able to beat teams and put points on the board and you know play good two-way hockey obviously but you have to have some of that offensive element to win games over the course of an 82 game grind which will become an 84 game grind it sounds like um in the near future but I think you know so you you need a little bit of both but you need those offensive players to to to get you through the regular season and carry you there and and he’s going to be one of those guys and it’ll be interesting to see him with Posternneck when that does happen a few years down the line uh and to see what how they can work with each other and if they can work with each other and if they become you know guys that are on different lines kind of you know making things happen for each line and making them dangerous if they’re teamed together there’s so many possibilities there it’ll be nice to have those kind of options if you’re a Bruins coach uh Marco Sturm somewhere uh down the line with those kind of players but um as I said before like I I there is very little to criticize with James Hagens being selected as the seventh overall pick it’s more about the good fortune the Bruins had that he fell to that spot especially where he’d been talked about in the past and the minor quibbles that he didn’t super dominate college hockey and Hockey East as an 18-year-old kid on a loaded team with tons of offensive talent um it’s that that’s a minor um quibble you know that that’s something that I it doesn’t even daunt me in the least i I think that’s one of those things where I think he came in uh to Boston College in a very established situation and he did the right thing and was a good team player and played the way he should have with veteran older guys that were also very talented uh and and you know had the goal of winning a national championship as the thing um and and I think that is actually in some ways a positive rather than some guy that came in here was me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me my my points my touches you know I need to score a ton of goals that’s not the way he played he was more of a facilitator um than probably he’d ever been in the past and he did it well uh with the the the talent around him and I think that’s a reflection on a good mature player that does things the right way um so we’ll we’ll see how it goes uh obviously and and I think it we’re going to get into this in the second half of the show when we answer some fan questions but James Hagens love the pick i I think you have to be truly truly optimistic about that pick if you’re a Boston Bruins fan all right let’s take a break uh to get into prize picks prize Pick is the largest daily fantasy sports platform in North America and the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports join over 10 million users and get started today instead of battling thousands of other players there could be pros or sharks you simply pick more or less than on two to six 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the Bruins Ringside YouTube channel where you can find our show and a lot of other great Bruins content with fellow Bruins talkers like Connor Ryan and Evan Marinowski there’s also the CLNS Media Network and Celtics All Access on CLNS the NBA History Channel Patriots Press Pass and Bruins Ringside YouTube channels as well also please make sure to turn on your notifications so you know the instant a new Pucks with Hags podcast video drops on the interwebs all right uh let’s get into some questions here uh this is from JHawk Water on Twitter what’s the timeline for the NHL for Hagens on a side note how aggressive are the NHL Bruins going to be in free agency are we looking at another top 10 draft choice next year all right first things first timeline for Hagens i know there’s uh he’s been talking about you know I want to play in the NHL as soon as possible next year I think I could play um you know being somewhat koi about hey I want to talk to the Bruins to to find out you know what we’re going to do um and what the plan is uh and and all that stuff but I you know I think the only choice here for James Hagens is for the Bruins and Hagens to agree he’s going to go back to Boston College for a sophomore season um he’s going to have one more year of development in college hockey and really the marching orders for him are Ryan Leonard is gone Gabe Perau is gone you have a bunch of your guys there guys that you are fellow Bruins draft picks with um he is he should be a dominant force on that team this year go and dominate at Boston College in your sophomore season go rip up Hockey East go rip up the NCAA’s maybe win a national championship certainly win the bean pot uh and go elevate uh be the guy that elevates Boston College and the guy that everything else is is uh you know centered around become that dominant force that everybody thought you were going to be projected you to be at freshman year at BC and turn into that guy and as as a sophomore with some of the other big guns now having moved on uh from the program and and are now in the NHL i think that’s really what it comes down to i think that’s the smartest way to develop him and really you don’t want to push him into the NHL and push him to that next level in the pros until you know maybe he’s had one more year of physical development as he’s getting bigger said he’s up to 190 190 pounds from I think he was listed at 177 you know prior uh to going to college uh he was I think 185 or above that a little bit 510 and a half 185 at the combine he’s up to around 190 um allow him that one more year of physical development let him get to 19 years old when he’s starting to get more of the man strength that he’s going to get and allow him to dominate at that level before he moves on to the next level i always think that is the best thing for player development in any sport certainly in hockey is you don’t move up to a higher level of competition you don’t move up to a bigger challenge uh until you’re ready and you’re ready when you show that you’re a dominant player at the level that you’re at and it’s not always about points it’s just about obvious like dominant players that you notice that win battles that have the puck a lot that make things happen that generate a ton um that can skate you know at a higher level than than the players they’re playing against like all that stuff uh once you start to see that then you’re like “Okay he’s ready for the next challenge.” And and you know think of this scenario what if the Bruins get uh become a playoff team next year you know let’s say a wild card team you know things go well uh some of their players step up the nucleus stays healthy they they bring along some young players they make some moves here um ahead of free agency or during free agency and they have a team that’s pretty good and is in a playoff spot late in the year let’s say James Higgins has a great season at Boston College dominant uh leads them on a deep run and then he’s available uh to become pro at the end of the year and maybe even jump on with the Bruins and add to the arsenal that they already have i mean that’s a pretty interesting scenario and it doesn’t happen a lot um in the NHL and that’s something that could happen uh with a team like the Bruins and with a player like that if he’s ready to go that could be almost like a trade deadline acquisition next season after the college hockey season is over if they everybody decides he’s ready to go and he wants to jump on and and climb aboard that train um could be similar to like what happened with Charlie Makavoy his first year where he came from Boston College um you know played for Providence a couple games late in the year and then jumped right into the NHL in the playoffs um and was was excellent against Ottawa and that was when he with his NHL debut was during the Stanley Cup playoffs like you know that’s that’s something a scenario that could happen this year with Hagens and I think it’s certainly possible and it’s interesting to talk about um and I think it’s It’s realistic if he goes out and does what everybody thinks he’s capable of and what he should be able to do this year with him being you know the big gun on that Eagles uh team and the and the guy that is really going to make everything happen there he should be that guy this year and I think he will be um you know I think some of last year was was based on the circumstances of that team dynamic and understandably so ryan Leonard’s an awesome player gabe Perau is an awesome player these are guys that are super accomplished um players uh at the NCA level and were first round picks and and were ready to turn pro and and you know jumped right in at the NHL level after they were done uh with their college hockey season so you know you’re you’re talking about players that if you’re a young guy coming into a program you’re gonna you’re gonna um give way to them a little bit you know that’s just going to be the natural order of things and I understand that um but yeah I think he’s going to the only thing that makes sense to me is and and Don Sweeney kind of mentioned this last night they’re not going to fasttrack Hagens they’re not going to rush him they’re not going to push him certainly not going to push him into a situation thinking that they need to rush him to Boston to try to be like desperate to get into the playoffs or anything like else if you look at the track record of them with prospects and with young players they’re gonna um do it the right way and and not rush guys if they don’t have to and I this is a situation where they don’t have to you know they can wait for Hagens one more year and let him go to Boston College and and really have that important developmental year that he needs all right um free agency um I don’t think they’re looking at another top 10 choice next year i think they’re going to be a probably a wild card team so maybe mid-round uh first round like 15 to 20 um I suspect that’s where they’ll end up we’ll see um but it’s not going to be like this i don’t think it’s going to be another you know sink to the bottom like there were unique circumstances with the injuries with the trades at the deadline you know with the coach getting fired 20 games into the year there was a lot going on with the Bruins this past season that I don’t see happening uh repeating again next year uh I think it’ll be a much more stable situation and and that will lead to more points more wins more success not dominant by any means but I think enough to get into the playoffs based on you know the strong core guys that they have if they remain healthy and Jeremy Swayman bouncing back as well so I don’t see another top 10 pick free agency we’ll see uh I have not heard them mentioned in the Marner situation Nikolai Eers like any of the top guys i have not heard them as a contender as a lead candidate as somebody that’s going to go after any of those players so it remains to be seen um you know Matthew N is always an interesting one as a restricted free agent but I really think the Maple Leafs are going to you know open the open the Brinks truck for him i think the biggest signing the Bruins are are going to focus on right now is trying to get Morgan Geeky done um so that doesn’t turn into a prolonged thing uh and giving him the contract that he has deserved something in the 5 to6 million range for probably like five years um but we’ll see how that um transpires uh we’ve thought some of these contracts were going to be easy or at least get done in a timely fashion and sometimes they don’t so we’ll see how that goes but I I don’t know it may be more trades uh than free agent um money uh that the Bruins end up uh acquiring players i do think they’re going to bring in talent i don’t think there’s any question about it i think they’re going to you know have to bring in one or two bigname forwards uh productive guys uh Brock Per is another one i’ve not heard the Bruins much linked to him uh but may there may be trades that they’re looking at uh to bring in those kind of players so we’ll see um all right uh th this one is from Z Snickers the draft is cringe but that first pick hit different all right let’s get into this briefly okay yes uh the Matthew Schaefer uh pick um how emotional he was about his mom having lost her to cancer uh them putting the pink ribbon on uh the jersey that he you know put on when he was selected like all that stuff is wonderful and you know touching and emotional and seeing the the you know the tears of joy and sadness uh of the family of Matthew himself uh of the dad like of of the whole family like it it hits you there’s no doubt about it um it’s an emotional just human sort of reaction to um what you’ve clearly is was a very difficult time for them and you know was a moment to think about their lost loved one right there and and um the part that she played in the whole process and and how much they wished she had been uh there for that moment like all that stuff is so touching but the other part of it is just the NHL draft this past year was obviously a new sort of thing decentralizing it putting all the teams in their cities having it in LA where all the families and the draft picks were putting it as an ESPN production where they tried to make it into the NFL draft which it clearly is not with hockey people with the GMs with the kids from Canada that you know are not about themselves and are not like you know going to you know put on a show for the cameras like I didn’t like it and I don’t think it really fits well with the NHL brand i don’t I I just think it was awkward in a lot of ways bad TV which is not what you want in these things and I really think they need to do away with some of it there is zero reason to stand make the um GMs and the coaches and all these other people that are the executives on the NHL teams make them look like they’re hostages by sitting there in front of the camera for these awkward interactions between some reporter with a microphone that’s there on stage who is asking these like you know lightweight questions and the prospects some of them who English is not their first language other ones they’re super nervous as you can tell and They’re clearly not you know not comfortable in in these situations and then you throw in like celebrities into the mix as well like the GooGoo Dolls with the Buffalo Sabres draft pick which was super weird and awkward like let’s let’s stop doing this let’s not let’s not throw everything i understand this was the first time and they were trying some things out they’re going to see some things that work and that don’t one thing I think we can know for certain is let’s not have that interplay that involves a satellite feed or a Zoom video link or whatever it is between people at a different location a reporter on the stage and a player that’s nervous or doesn’t speak English that well all of a sudden you have like all these things that can go wrong and did go wrong and will continue to go wrong like there’s I don’t think there’s any way to produce the some of that stuff out of it you like it there’s going to be always an element of like things that can go awfully sideways when when your setup is like that you know if they don’t want the everybody in the draft at the same place I guess that’s fine but like you don’t we don’t need to hear fluff from the executives after the player is picked just interview the player or in you know or just like have the player take a picture with have some representative there in person maybe have one person there that represents the team that you know they can go like have the owner there and the player goes and takes a picture with the owner or something like figure out something that makes sense where you have somebody on site and you can avoid that absolute uh dumpster fire of what we saw last night for most of those picks which was just awkward cringey television was not good and really like made it go on forever too it was so long it was like midnight before it was over took forever um and they weren’t starting the clock right after the next pick it was like TV was dictating the whole thing and TV didn’t have the the pick start until they were ready to put somebody else in the clock instead of having as it had always been a team goes on the clock right after the other one picks like all of that was awful it was just maybe it was trying to be made for TV ESPN but like I said I I think what they’re trying to do is make it like the NBA and the NFL and make it like the other sports when hockey is different and it’s wonderfully different and you celebrate the differences it has with some of the other sports and you don’t need to do it the same way i just don’t think it works well with hockey with the the way things are run the individuals that are involved the whole culture of the sport is so different it’s not like the NBA or the NFL or MLB it’s totally its own different thing and I think that trying to treat it like that in the draft was just a mistake and I think that bore out in what we saw last night just not a good fit they need to go back to the drawing board and get rid of some of the stuff that did not work last night and that is from you know not from me as a media member that is from me as a hockey fan and somebody that’s always enjoyed the draft and thought it was very cool there’s still like I I like the idea of bringing the families up talking to them a little bit like that whole thing is great uh but even that like the interviews last night were tough because it was so goddamn loud wherever they were that like you could tell nobody could hear anything that was going on and they’re like reaching over somebody else to hear questions and like you know there’s got to be a better way to do it like put them in some kind of quiet room somewhere where they’re not they’re not they don’t have all of that like commotion going on in the background um but like there’s got to be better ways to do it um and I hope that they learn from this and we don’t have another draft roll out like that because last night was borderline unwatchable and certainly cringy and not good uh and awkward TV which is not ever what you’re going for uh speaking from somebody that works worked in TV in a long time that is not what you want um and you could tell right away you’re just watching it you’re like “This is not good.” All right um good morning Joe this is from Bobby Rotundo i’ve been following the Bruins for almost 50 years and I love the draft pick me too however based on his reaction during the pick in his press conference I can tell this was not Don Sweeny’s selection thank God whoever made the decision chose wisely i didn’t get that at all i think this was absolutely Don Sweeny’s pick i think this makes a ton of sense this checks a lot of boxes of what the Bruins like and have always liked um I I think well obviously the reaction after they made the pick was I think the Bruins like were caught in a technical snafu so I don’t think you can take any reads into any of the reactions you were getting from any of them right in the immediate aftermath because it was just a weird situation thanks to the NHL and ESPN um but the way he spoke afterwards I was there i asked him questions we talked and I think he was borderline incredulous at some of the questions just basically you know kind of like picking at reasons why Hagens wasn’t the number one overall pick um when he was projected to be a year before and the season he had at Boston College and you know things like that where it’s like hockey people know like this kid’s background and his resume like it’s impressive and It’s like worth the it’s it’s not something you can really question like I said I think this is a bulletproof prospect i think this guy is a rising star um based on what he’s done throughout his career and the situation he was put in at Boston College i think people that know hockey get it like it was an extremely talented team where he was not going to rack up a monster season like he just wasn’t with the players that were still there with the national championship still very much in play um all of that stuff I think it was going to be you know him being a piece of the puzzle rather than him being the star in the show this year I think is a little different this coming year he is going to be the one that is going to have to stir the drink generate offense be the main you know provider and and guy that everything flows through and I’m sure it’s going to be much more um along the lines of what people thought they were going to get from him his first year at Boston College and it’s going to immediately put everybody at ease that okay this is the guy we thought was going to be the first overall pick this is the player that uh we saw at the US National Team Development Program this is the the fast skilled u you know offensiveminded player um phenom that um is going to be one of those next wave of young stars in the NHL i think that we’re going to see that at Boston College this coming season i think we’re going to see that at development camp next week where they have not had a player of that caliber and de dev camp in a long long time you’re going to hear a lot of oo and a’s i think there’s going to be a much bigger crowd at dev camp and I think there’s going to be an electricity to that dev camp like there hasn’t been in a while and and that speaks to bringing in a talent at this level and that they have not had a talent at this level in the prospect system in a long long time this is exactly what they needed so I’m not reading anything into Don Sweeney this not being his pick him not wanting to do this no if he wanted to they could have dra traded down and gotten accumulated more picks and probably gotten JG Pou from the Islanders and let the Islanders take Hagens who desperately wanted him and taken some of those mid-first rounders and and a you know a good NHL player to help augment their team if they wanted to i think that could have been there for them uh but they opted to take the player because I think they value the player and they understand how good he’s going to be and they understand in the NHL you need players like that like I said before in order to get to the playoffs so I I don’t I don’t buy into at all that this was not a Don Sweeney pick or buy into any of what he said last night trying to read into it that this is not the player he wanted i think the Bruins were super fortunate and know how fortunate they were that this player dropped to them at number seven and that they were able to take him and they were very glad this isn’t like the happy speak of we were just glad this player was available when we picked no they were really happy that this player dropped to them at number seven when for a long long time it felt like he wasn’t going to be there and I even thought he wasn’t going to be there so this is a great pick for the Bruins this is exactly the kind of player that they wanted um that’s going to be an impact player for a long time all right uh big moment in Bruins history i think the way this played out will be something the organization and fans talk about for years to come that is from CSR451 i I agree i think this is a guy that is going to be part of that next wave of Bruins he’s gonna help uh this team continue to be relevant playoff level like he’s a good player uh and I I really am interested to see him with Postnak him on the power play him with some of these other players that they’ve brought in like I really hope that scenario that I mentioned earlier where he goes back to Boston College has a great season and then maybe can join hop on board the NHL train towards the end of the year um is a possibility i I think that would be phenomenal and it would be awesome and for me as a young player be shades of like you know um Ted Donado uh and those guys uh you know hopping on towards the end of the year was it Craig Janney that did that too i know Ted Donado and I think there was one other player I can’t remember who it was but they all like hopped on after their college hockey seasons or after the Olympic seasons were over and um ended up being a big factor for the Bruins uh down the stretch i wish I had Mick here to uh to back up my uh my my remembrances of uh 30 years ago which aren’t as great anymore all right um I saw Paul Korea play at Marramac he won the Hobie Baker trophy that trophy that year he fired the puck from just outside the blue line he scored just inside the crossbar a true laser missile back then a general admission non- studentent ticket was about 10 bucks those were the days and that is from Jim T9889 and I want to get to this briefly um this is the kind of player Paul Korea that I think um generates stirs some of this conversation that that uh Hagens’s year at BC was not overwhelming um the thing about Paul Korea is he was a special talent obviously University of Maine he was like a just a you know a a force to be reckoned with he was uh something like they’d never seen in college hockey before when he went there and and dominated at Maine um but the thing about that is like college hockey is not the way it was back then anymore college hockey is at a much higher level across the board like you see way more college hockey players that are NHL prospects now playing in the NCAA than you did back in those days like there were some is definitely no question about it but I think there was a few draft picks on every team most of the higher ones were not um college hockey players they were in junior hockey or Europe or whatever um now you see tons of first round picks tons of players that got drafted on on college hockey rosters and you’re seeing a much bigger trend of those players choosing college hockey and not getting beat up in junior hockey uh and getting any education in college hockey as the route uh to get to the NHL and the league is so much better and so so good now and the programs are so good and stocked with you know weight rooms and training facilities and like great sort of places to develop and track into being an NHL player and and sort of like you know getting them ready to be plugandplay when they get to the NHL that so many more players now with talent to play in the NHL are playing college hockey that the brand of college hockey the NCA hockey is at so much of a higher level also older players you see so many 20 21 year old freshman now and they’re playing until they’re 23 24 so 18 year old kids like Hagens are playing against guys that are five six years older than them now as well in college hockey which is also another huge challenge but I think all of that has turned college hockey into a much more difficult place to play now than it was back then uh where it’s much harder to be that dominant force of nature especially as a young kid first coming in uh that Korea was obviously when he was with the Black Bears back in the day with Jim Montgomery by the way um I think that you know we’re we’re gonna see something more similar to that I think in his next season after he’s been through it for a year uh and he knows what to expect and the situation on that team is a little different but I I think if you are thinking of Paul Korea and that’s why you’re saying ah you know 11 goals and 37 points in 37 games that’s not that great um at Boston College for a kid that turned 17 or a kid that was 17 when he went to campus and at the beginning of the college hockey season and turned 18 during his first year and was still a point per game player for Boston College and at the NCA level as as one of the youngest guys in all of the NCAA’s yeah I think that’s pretty import that’s pretty noteworthy i think that’s pretty impressive i I think I don’t look at that as he was had a down year or you know I I wasn’t overly excited at what he did i thought he was a very good player extremely good player and I think he’s going to be even better next year and you know I I I am not in any way discouraged by the what he did at Boston College and I think I am more encouraged that he was able to play that way and uh be more about the team and and the team goal and playing with his teammates and all that stuff rather than it being about him and posting his points and doing his thing and I think that’s what it came down to i think that’s a lot of what was going on uh in that first year at Boston College um and I think that bodess well for what he’s going to do and how he’s going to be when he jumps on with the Bruins as well so good pick uh good questions thank you very much everybody for listening uh we will have the second round of the draft today where the Bruins have a ton of draft picks um let me just remind you this show is brought to you by Prize Pix the largest daily fantasy sport platform in North America download the Prize Pix app today and use the code CLNS and get $50 instantly when you play five bucks that’s code CLNS and Prize Pix to get $50 instantly when you play $5 you don’t even need to win to receive the $50 bonus it’s guaranteed prize picks run your game let me also remind you that the Pucks with Hags podcast is a proud member of the CLS media network make sure to hit subscribe to the Bruins Ringside YouTube channel and turn on the notifications for when a new video drops on the channel thank you everybody else out there for listening let’s get into that second round of the draft and let’s see you at the ring

Joe Haggerty reacts to the Bruins drafting James Hagens with the seventh overall pick and why it’s exactly what they needed after the season they just endured. Haggs also makes the case for Hagens to return to BC next season.

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