The Boston Bruins likely felt quite lucky when James Hagens fell to them in the 2025 NHL Draft. A player once viewed as the potential No. 1 overall pick didn’t even go in the top-five.
Maybe that was telling, but maybe it was also good fortune for the Bruins, who landed one of their forwards of the future.
So far, Hagens has shown himself to have a lot of the potential that Boston would’ve hoped.
Even so, Hagens’ name recently appeared in a trade concept put forth by an NHL insider. It would improve the Bruins defensively, but it would also cut ties with Hagens quite early in his career.
So the question really becomes: Would the Bruins trade Hagens?
At least one writer thinks it’s possible.
James Hagens Trade Idea
Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon included Hagens’ name in a new article on Thursday as one of the players who would make sense to trade to the Detroit Red Wings for defenseman Simon Edvinsson.
Edvinsson isn’t content with Detroit and wants a new contract, but he’s also a talented young defenseman, the kind of player Boston could probably use.
At first glance, Hagens feels like a bold price to pay.
“Hagens has had a nice start to his rookie year with two goals in four games for the Bruins,” Dixon writes. “In a sense, it would be awfully tough to give up Hagens — the seventh-overall pick in 2025 — when the B’s are looking for their next generation of offense.”
Edvinsson reminds Dixon at least a little bit of Zdeno Chara, though — Edvinsson does stand 6-foot-6.
“That said, does anybody need to tell Boston what a gigantic defender who can do a little bit of everything can mean for a franchise?” Dixon writes. “OK, we’re not saying Edvinsson would be the second coming of Zdeno Chara, but the potential for him to be an all-situations stud who plays 23 minutes regularly and 27 when it really counts is there. Boston has a right-shot stud in Charlie McAvoy, who turns 29 in December. How good would it be to know you have Edvinsson potentially anchoring another pair from the left side and ready to take over as the go-to workhorse when McAvoy turns the corner into his 30s.”
Dixon is not the first analyst to point out how strong an Edvinsson partnership with McAvoy could be.
It all comes down to whether the Bruins, and the Red Wings for that matter, would risk Hagens as the centerpiece of this deal.
“The rub for Detroit is Hagens has played the wing during his short, six-game NHL career and there are some doubts as to whether the five-foot-11 American would thrive up the middle matching up with the best centers in the NHL,” Dixon writes. “Still, if he hits his offensive ceiling, does it really matter which position he’s doing it from?”
Defensive Question
The one other question is this: Do the Bruins believe they can count on Edvinsson as a top-pairing defenseman.
If he truly can just align with McAvoy for at least the next few years and do well there, then he’s immensely valuable.
But if Edvinsson ended up being more like a second-pairing defenseman, it could prove quite costly to trade Hagens for him.
It’s not clear that this is a deal that is close by any means, but rather a Sportsnet insider speculating about the possibility. There’s intrigue, to be sure, but it’d also be risky for the Bruins.
Bruins Risk James Hagens Trade in NHL Insider Take