The Boston Bruins are renowned for being one of the most dominant teams in the NHL over the last few decades. However, they rarely draft big superstars and instead usually build their teams through big trades and free agency signings. This time around, though, the Boston Bruins have had some incredible drafts the last couple of years. They’ve gone from having one of the worst prospect pools, generally ranking in the bottom half or lower third of the NHL, to having a pretty decent one.
James Hagens:
This, of course, comes with the addition of Boston College centre James Hagens, who the Bruins drafted 7th overall in the 2025 NHL draft. Hagens is regarded as “a fluid skater who is light on his edges”, according to the EliteProspects 2025 NHL Draft Guide.
“He layers pucks through tricky seams, hooks and slips feeds around pressure, and improvises on the fly with lightning-quick processing, punching away from threats and funnelling play to the inside”, EliteProspects states.
Hagens was the consensus #1 pick heading into the 2025 season, but after finishing his 2024-2025 freshman campaign in Boston College with a point per game season (37 TP in 37 GP), not nearly comparing to the NHL 2024 Draft 1st overall selection Macklin Celebrini’s monster season in the NCAA (64 TP in 38 GP), Hagens fell to Boston at 7 the draft.
This could have been because of his season in college hockey not being as good as Celebrini’s, or because he’s a bit undersized, standing at 5 ’11 194 LBS, but whatever reason it was, Hagens is proving why he is the steal of the draft. He currently leads Hockey East in both goals and points with 23 G, 22 A, and 33 GP, and is helping Boston College reach new highs with a really good season.
BC coach Greg Brown said to the media on Feb. 2nd in a press conference regarding Hagens’s play, “He always has the puck a ton every game. It seems like whether he’s on or off, he’s still going to create chances for us, but it’s been more consistent of late…him continuing to be assertive all the time has really helped him. He was good, but now he’s even taken it up a notch.”
Should the Bruins call him up at the end of the season? The answer to that question will be answered by Bruins management in the next month. If they believe Hagens is ready, they’ll make the call and sign him to his entry-level deal, slotting him somewhere in the lineup near the end of the season, hopefully for a playoff push if the team makes it.
Just the fact alone if the Bruins make the playoffs or not might be the only thing management decides on. Hagens seems like a really complete player who will play well for the Bruins, but depending on how the rest of the season goes for Boston, it might be another summer before Bruins fans see him in the NHL.
Dean Letourneau:
Another exciting prospect to pay attention to is Eagles forward Dean Letourneau. With a big body and an offensively minded playstyle, Letourneau has had a major bounce-back season in college hockey, proving that he is one of the Bruins’ top prospects. Standing at 6’7 229 LBS, Letourneau’s play is described as “contrary to other players his size” according to the EliteProspects 2024 NHL Draft Guide.
“He moves quite freely, especially because he uses crossover techniques to avoid the long, slower strides, and there’s a good upper-body/lower-body separation and some agility. A lot of his offence consists of downhill attacks where he surveys pressure, drives the net with his range and size, or leverages the attention he receives to find open teammates”, per EliteProspects.
After putting up 61 G, 66 A for 127 TP at St. Andrews College, the Bruins took a chance on Letourneau, drafting him 25th overall in the 2024 NHL draft. At the time, he was seen as a project that would need quite a few years to develop before making the jump to the NHL. His jump to the NCAA didn’t go as planned, as Letourneau had a very underwhelming freshman season, only putting up 3 assists in 36 games for Boston College. He did publicly announce he was playing through a broken hand for the first half of the season, before getting surgery for it around Christmas time and returning in January to play the rest of the season.
This season, however, Letourneau has proved all the people who didn’t believe in him wrong. Through 34 games for Boston College this season, Letourneau has 20 G, 17 A, for 37 TP in the NCAA. He is second in goals and points for Boston College, and is tied for second in scoring for the entirety of Hockey East, only behind Hagens and tied with Northeastern forward Dylan Hryckowian.
During an interview with sports media platform RG.org, Brown said, “Last year was a huge jump from a Canadian prep school straight to college. Not many players skip that junior development stage. So for him to do that was very challenging…but Dean had a tremendous summer, put on weight, put on a ton of strength, and he is a different player this year.”
Although Letourneau has had a great turnaround season, he is still due for some more development. He has grown as a player a ton over the last year, but he still has much of his game to improve in order to reach the NHL level. Letourneau is most likely due for another season at BC for the 2026-2027 season, and after that is probably when he’ll make his jump into either the AHL or NHL, depending on how ready management thinks he’ll be.
What’s Next:
Overall, there’s no doubt in anyone’s minds that both Hagens and Letourneau are key parts of the Boston Bruins future. How good they’ll really be, only time will tell. But nonetheless, Bruins fans all across North America are stoked to see the two of them play whenever they make their jumps full-time, and can’t see them dress in the black and gold uniforms for the first time in their debuts, whenever that time may be.
