BC pulled off a massive recruiting coup this evening, landing James and Michael Hagens, out of Hauppauge, NY. The Hagens brothers were recruited by all of the big schools but BC, Michigan, Notre Dame, Penn State, and Providence were the finalists. The older brother, Michael, was committed to Harvard up until about a month ago. I am hearing that there were a few factors that went into this commitment- first, BC is within driving distance of the Hagens home in New York- that mattered. Secondly (and perhaps most importantly), BC was able to present a compelling NIL offer to James. Up to this point, I am not sure how much of a role NIL has played in BC's recruiting but make no mistake, this was a recruitment where NIL was a major player and for BC to be able to step up in that regard is very encouraging.
James is the headliner as he is projected to be a top two pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. Last season, James recorded 66 points in 43 games for the USNTDP U17 team, before being bumped up to the U18 team, where he posted 19 points in 17 games (as the youngest player on the team). Before making the USNTDP, James played at Mount Saint Charles Academy in Rhode Island, where he netted 115 points in 54 games during the 2021-2022 season. At the U17 World Championships, James set the tournament record for points with 21 in 7 games. James joined a plethora of his future teammates at the World Jr Summer Showcase a few months back. Scott Wheeler, who writes about hockey prospects for The Athletic, projected James to be the second line center for the United States team at this winter's event. As the youngest guy on the team, that would be impressive. As things stand, I would not be surprised if we see six Eagles at the WJC- Will Smith, Ryan Leonard, Gabe Perreault, Jacob Fowler, Cutter Gauthier, and James Hagens.
In a November 2022 article, Corey Pronman, also of The Athletic, listed Hagens as the number one prospect on his 2025 NHL Draft "big board". Pronman describes Hagens as "a dynamic forward...he is an excellent skater with dangerous speed and edge work...he has outstanding individual skill and playmaking ability and all those attributes lead to him being able to break open a shift at any given point."
The older brother, Michael, is a good prospect in his own right. It is worth noting that Michael is the first non-graduate transfer defensive recruit under Greg Brown. The senior Hagens brother is a 6'0 blue liner who recorded 26 points in 60 games for the Chicago Steel last season, where he played with current Eagle, Nolan Joyce. He will play for the Steel again this season. In 2023, Michael was named to the USHL All-Rookie Second Team and played for the United States in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup this summer.
I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that this is one of BC's best recruiting wins in recent memory. In terms of hype before they came to BC (in the past 15 years)- I would put James Hagens on a list with Smith, Gauthier, Hanifin, and Kreider.
I hope BC fans appreciate just how lucky they are to have this type of talent coming to The Heights over the next two years. Gauthier, Smith, Leonard, Perreault, and Hagens (not to mention a half dozen other players) are exceptionally talented skaters who will hopefully get this program moving in the right direction. Obviously, there are those who want BC to avoid recruiting the high end players for fear that they will leave but I think that's frankly baloney. Think of it this way- if all of these guys were headed to BU, would everyone be totally fine with that? Don't think so. When you can recruit high end talent like BC has the ability to, you should do everything possible to get these players on your campus. Not only do they have these high end studs headlining their classes, but they have more than enough recruits who they think will be very good three/four year players. Now, with that said, when you have this star power, you have to get it done. We've seen far too many "super teams" fall short in college hockey over the past ten years- BC in 2016, BU in 2017, BC in 2021, Michigan in 2022, and Minnesota last year. BC's rosters both this year and next will be just as good, if not better, than those teams. They have to find a way to break through.
As of now, BC's 2024 class looks like this- James Hagens, Michael Hagens, Teddy Stiga, Matthew Frost, Tobias Pitka, Justin Solovey, Landan Resendes, and Jake Sondreal. Michael Hagens is the only defenseman in that group- I think they will go to the portal this offseason to make another addition on the blue line. Without James Hagens, I thought that was a good group that was maybe lacking a headliner. With today's news, BC will (barring any setbacks) have the #1 recruiting class in the country for a second straight season. Obviously, the staff could push players back a year if they feel like there is numbers crunch, but as of now, I think they're hopeful that the "big three" will be at BC for two seasons. I know they've made a major effort to overhaul how they evaluate when players are going to leave and what to do in the interim. The addition of the transfer portal definitely gives them more room to maneuver if they're caught off-guard by an early departure.
That is all I have for now. In the coming days, I will have a season preview article complete with quotes from Coach Brown, who kindly took some time to chat with me last week.
Go Eagles
