{"id":507486,"date":"2026-10-25T12:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T12:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/507486\/"},"modified":"2026-10-25T12:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T12:40:08","slug":"bruins-prized-rookie-earning-his-keep-making-strong-impression-on-teammates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/507486\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruins prized rookie earning his keep, making strong impression on teammates"},"content":{"rendered":"

The hockey education of James Hagens continued in the Bruins\u2019 6-4 victory over the San Jose Sharks<\/a> on Saturday and he\u2019s proving to be a very apt pupil.<\/p>\n

The Sharks have a ton of young talent but Hagens took a backseat to no one. He assisted on Casey Mittelstadt\u2019s first goal of the game and then gave the Bruins the lead in the third period after the team fell behind. And throughout the game, the rookie was part of the line with veterans Mittelstadt and Elias Lindholm that was tasked with shutting down the potent Macklin Celebrini line, which pretty much happened at 5-on-5.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome. He\u2019s hilarious,\u201d said Mittelstadt of his young linemate. \u201cThat was a huge goal and you can definitely see the type of player he is and it\u2019s been a blast playing with him. Hopefully we can keep it going.\u201d<\/p>\n

The goal Hagens scored was not his first Garden goal for the Bruins, but it felt like it. It\u2019s the first one that mattered. He had scored in the B\u2019s worst game of a season, a 4-1 loss to Ottawa with his goal coming when the B\u2019s were down 4-0 in the third.<\/p>\n

His tally on Saturday came in a wild third period and, though it didn\u2019t hold up as the game-winner, it gave the B\u2019s a lead they\u2019d never relinquish.<\/p>\n

The crowd pop left an impression.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy how the crowd was. It was super cool feeling. It\u2019s something I\u2019ll be able to remember for the rest of my career and the rest of my life,\u201d Hagens said.<\/p>\n

Hagens has a terrific shot, one that he showed off in the Prospects Challenge in Buffalo back in September when he scored six goals in two games. But like other goals he\u2019s scored this year, this one came at the top of the crease. Off a faceoff win, he dished it down low to Lindholm and then followed up the rebound, jamming it through Alex Nedeljkovic.<\/p>\n

He now has 4-5-9 totals and is plus-5 on the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s impressive,\u201d Bruins captain David Pastrnak said. \u201cHe\u2019s got the touch and he\u2019s been there around it the whole time and he\u2019s been productive. It\u2019s fun to watch him every game and seeing him get more comfortable. He\u2019s a great player. He scored a big goal and he\u2019s fun to watch.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s smart. He\u2019s not a big guy but for his age he\u2019s very smart around the net and even the goal in Dallas, that was even more impressive than today, outmuscling (Miro Heiskanen). It\u2019s fun to watch him every game being more comfortable. It\u2019s up to us to push him and be here for him and help him every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is perhaps been even more impressive is the fact coach Marco Sturm has entrusted him to play on what has become the club\u2019s checking line. As Mittelstadt pointed out, Lindholm (15-6 in the faceoff dot on Saturday) does a lot of the heavy lifting but neither of the wings can be passengers.<\/p>\n

The line set the tone right away against the Celebrini line, dominating a shift down low until Mittelstadt found the back of the net just 3:08 into the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s just being prepared at the puck drop,\u201d said Hagens, the 2025 seventh overall pick. \u201cThose are great players and if you\u2019re not ready, they\u2019ll be able to go down and put it in the back of your net. You just have to make sure that you\u2019re ready to show up at the start of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Hagens is relishing the nightly challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s special,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great feeling to be out there and trying to stop those guys from scoring. You want to do your best, you want to win your games and, if that\u2019s your role, you\u2019ve got to be able to go out there and do it. It\u2019s definitely cool. These players, I grew up watching, especially last year when I was in college. I was watching these guys when they were out there and we\u2019re trying to stop them all night.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a high draft pick, Hagens didn\u2019t have to work hard to become a fan favorite, at least at the moment. But he\u2019s earning the respect of the veterans as well.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s going to the blue paint, he\u2019s working to shut down top lines and he even went into the game leading all NHL forwards in blocked shots with 16. Alas, he was shut out in that department, but he found other ways to contribute.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a player, you see the skill and the shot definitely stands out to me but I feel like he\u2019s done a heck of a job on the forecheck. I feel like he\u2019s taking pucks away all the time,\u201d Mittelstadt said. \u201cThat\u2019s not easy to do as a young kid. But other than (that), he\u2019s got a positive personality and he\u2019s having fun, laughing on the bench. I enjoy that and it\u2019s been a pleasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The hockey education of James Hagens continued in the Bruins\u2019 6-4 victory over the San Jose Sharks on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[8932,193689,404,88,90,89],"class_list":["post-507486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-bruins","tag-james-hagens","tag-nhl","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}