“Those are guys that you grow up idolizing and to be able to see them casually and be able to talk to them, it’s something that … It’s just crazy,” Hagens told the Globe after a recent skate.
Hagens, about to embark on his first full season in the NHL when training camp kicks off Sept. 16, is coming off a busy 2025-26 campaign which started in Chestnut Hill (for his sophomore season at Boston College) and included stops in St. Paul (for the World Juniors), Providence (for his pro debut), Boston (for his NHL launch), and finally Switzerland (for the world championships).
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The busy itinerary was something Hagens embraced.
“Honestly, every place that I was fortunate enough to be at, it was a learning experience wherever I was. I had so many great players, great human beings, and coaches around me,” said Hagens, the Bruins’ top pick (No. 7) in 2025. “Just being able to be around it, see what it meant to be a pro, see how those guys acted, how they carried themselves. Something that I was really grateful for.”
Hagens acknowledged it’s a little weird to not be getting ready to go back to school for the first time since his pre-kindergarten days.
“I had a great time at school, though. I was so fortunate to be able to go to Boston College and to be right down the road,” said Hagens. “It’s different, but you’re following your dreams and trying to make a team.”
His aim is to don just one sweater this season — the Bruins’ No. 44. He took the ice for Boston for the first time in April in the penultimate regular-season game — a 3-2 win in Columbus. He skated at TD Garden for the first time as a Bruin in the finale — a 4-0 win over New Jersey.
“It was crazy. It’s not really something you can put into words when you’re in a room with all these guys that are role models to you,” said Hagens, asked about his emotions for those two games. “So, when you’re sitting next to them and being able to go out and play with them, it was just a really cool opportunity. It’s something you work for your whole life.”
He said his support system was paramount in his thoughts before those games.
“You have to give a lot of credit to your family, to my parents, to my brother [Michael] and little sister [Emma] and everyone that’s helped me along the way. I wouldn’t be there without them,” Hagens said. “So, it’s just not going in with too many nerves, just realizing it is a hockey game and just being ready to go.”
Hagens also played in the first three playoff games against the Sabres before coach Marco Sturm went with a more veteran lineup. Those glimpses into professional life provided a clear blueprint for how to prepare.
“It really shows you how hard it is,” he said. “You can’t take a day off. It’s not easy at all. So, it’s being prepared, especially now using this time in the offseason just to put yourself in the right opportunity to try to make the team.”
Hagens said he had “great conversations” during his exit interviews with the Bruins before heading to the worlds.
“They’ve been so great to me, so helpful. And for me, it was really about learning. Making sure that whenever anybody talks, I’m paying attention, I’m listening,” said Hagens. “There’s always something to learn being around here when you have Bergeron, you have Chara, you’ve got guys that have been around and they’re some of the best players in the world. And even in the locker room, you’ve just got to make sure that you’re soaking everything in. You can always learn. And being able to just really be open to that, it’s been really special.”
Where Hagens fits into the Bruins’ plans will be a major plot line of training camp. A natural center, Hagens spent much of last season at left wing, including his five games as an NHLer.
He has been preparing for either scenario.
“I just want to be able to go out there [and play], but it’s really just about being ready. If they want you at center, then you have to make sure that you’re prepared, and you’re really dialed in to what your task is. And you got to make sure that you can win faceoffs, too,” he said. “So, if you’re playing winger, then you have different assignments. You have to make sure that you can play well there, too, because there’s a bunch of other guys that can do it as well.”
Hagens’s summer schedule has been busy — but not hectic.
“It’s been awesome. I’ve been able to be in Boston, be able to train with the guys here, being able to be around them. They push you to be your best,” he said. “So, I felt like it was great also being able to spend some time at home with family. That’s something that I really appreciated. It feels like a vacation when you’re back home.”
Especially when time with the family meant quality time on the boat.
“It’s never a bad day when you’re out on the water,” he said, with his parents and his siblings, both of whom will be playing college hockey at Vermont.
Michael heads there this season as a transfer from BC, and Emma in 2028.
“She went, she saw the school and she loved it. I wasn’t home really for all of it when she was kind of deciding, but those are just exciting times to be able to go to a Division 1 hockey school,” said Hagens. “It’s a dream come true. It’s something you work for. She’s worked so hard her whole life and to see it pay off, you have to be proud.”
Of course, no vacation would be complete without some wrestling with Oshie, the family’s miniature schnauzer.
“He’s doing really well. He’s the best,” Hagens said. “He’s always begging for treats, he’s awesome.”
As a rookie last season, Fraser Minten was one of three Bruins to play all 82 regular-season games.Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff
EAGER FOR MORE
Minten continues to build game
Fraser Minten is gearing up for his second full NHL season after a successful rookie campaign that included all 82 games (plus a half-dozen postseason tilts), 17 goals, and 35 points.
Perhaps Minten’s most impressive number, however, was his plus-21 in the regular season. He immediately took to the 200-foot game at the NHL level. The 6-foot-2-inch, 205-pound center is responsible in all three zones and plays with an understated physicality. He quickly bought into Sturm’s hybrid zone system and became one of the team’s most reliable penalty killers. As the season wore on, Minten saw time on the top line and the power play.
“I’ve always been a guy that wants to be out there contributing to winning. I think that’s my priority as a player, kind of my style,” Minten said via phone from his home in Vancouver. “I like being a guy that’s reliable and versatile, a guy that can be trusted to be out there at the end of the games, at the start of games, whenever. Faceoffs, penalty killing, one of the guys that can play on the power play, too. So just trying to be versatile and reliable, I think that is a reflection of that [plus-minus] stat.”
Minten credited the Western Hockey League — he played in perhaps the two most Canadian cities ever, Kamloops and Saskatoon — for preparing him.
“We have really tough travel with the buses there and we’re playing 70 games plus preseason, plus playoffs . . . So, I was pretty used to lots of games and travel from that,” said Minten. “And I just knew it would be the same, but even more difficult at the elevated level the NHL is.”
Minten said the series against the Sabres really drove home what a fine line it is between success and failure in the postseason.
“Just another level of elevation as far as details and compete and strength that’s needed to make a difference,” he said. “Just every little play, every little detail. You have to be so dialed in to every faceoff, like coverage, who you’re out there against. The mistakes just end up costing more. So, just being able to have the endurance to be ready by the end of the season to bring that out I think is one of the biggest things that I was able to learn.”
Following the Bruins season, Minten was tapped by Hockey Canada for the world championships in Switzerland, where he played another 10 games. Playing alongside some of the league’s best helped build his confidence.
“It was great. It was super fun to play with the fellow countrymen. And we had a super-stacked veteran roster there. Lots of guys who’ve done a lot and won a lot in their career,” he said. “So, getting the opportunity to be around the dressing room with guys like [Ryan] O’Reilly, [Sidney] Crosby, [John] Tavares, to name a few, even [Macklin] Celebrini. I skate with Mac around here [in the summer], but just guys that are so professional, so dialed in and just the elite of the elite of the sport.
“It’s an honor and super fun to get to play with those guys anytime. So, it was an awesome experience and something that hopefully [the NHL] playoffs prevent me from doing in the future.”
It was then Minten, a key return in the trade that sent defenseman Brandon Carlo to Toronto at the 2025 deadline, was able to look back at his successful first season. He has spent the summer recharging his batteries and refocusing on what’s ahead.
“Just want to build on last season, continue to help the team be a winning hockey team, be a team that can be playing meaningful games all year long and hopefully extend the season,” he said. “I want to contribute with good reliability and be defensive, be trustworthy, and then continue to build the offensive game and provide goals and just help the team any way I can and help us be a winning team.”
Minten, who turned 22 last month, will be a restricted free agent at season’s end. He acknowledged a long-term deal has been on his mind.
“Obviously there’s things you have to think about when you have an upcoming contract expiring and just kind of putting it to the side and worrying about my training and what I can control and the season and let that stuff kind of take care of itself over time,” he said.
For the record, he’d love to stay in Boston.
“Boston has done nothing but treat me super well and I really enjoy wearing the logo,” Minten said. “So, that would be something that would be super appealing to me for sure.”
Connor Hellebuyck has played 11 seasons for the Jets, winning the Vezina Trophy three times and the Hart Trophy once.David Zalubowski/Associated Press
Quiz time: Now that Colorado’s Cale Makar has re-set the market for NHL contracts (eight years, $163.2 million), who signed the first million-dollar contract in league history? Answer below . . . The situation in Winnipeg got a little dicier when Connor Hellebuyck reiterated his request for a trade, this time publicly. Hellebuyck said he told the club about his desire several months ago and, through a statement released by agent Ray Petkau, said he “tried to handle the situation quietly and respectfully while giving the organization time to explore its options.” It’s no longer quiet, and while many teams would love to have the most decorated goalie in the game manning their net, the franchise’s leverage is out the window. The Bruins face the Jets in Winnipeg Oct. 2 . . . Lightning captain/defenseman Victor Hedman revealed he was suffering from “performance anxiety,” which led him to step away from the game late last season. “For me, it was not really feeling low, but it was performance anxiety, kind of feeling that pressure in your chest as soon as a gameday would hit,” Hedman told nhl.com. “It kind of locks you up. You make a mistake and in the past, you’d be able to shake it off, but I couldn’t do that. And I wasn’t feeling 100 percent physically.” Hedman, 35, who dealt with a balky elbow during his 17th season, said he feels better as he prepares for his 18th. “I felt it was important for me to [step away] to get a handle on everything mentally and physically,” he said. “Someone told me that for good leaders sometimes doing the right thing for the team is to kind of step away … I don’t regret that decision at all. It was the right thing to do.” . . . Prayers for Blues prospect Matthew Mayich, who collapsed during an outdoor workout with Arizona State University and remains hospitalized. The school has launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the workout . . . The Bruins and Penguins will be featured on nationally televised games a league-high 20 times this season. The Flames and Canucks are scheduled for zero US national games, while the Jets have one . . . Big schedule disappointment at this address because the Bruins won’t be in St. Louis on Dec. 2. That night, the Blues will hand out Ozzy Osbourne bobbleheads to the first 10,000 fans. The late Osbourne has been linked to the Blues since 1984, when the “Prince of Darkness” was arrested for public intoxication in Memphis while wearing a Blues sweater . . . A reminder the Bruins Fan Fest will be at Rocky Point State Park in Warwick, R.I., Sept. 12 and feature a Bergeron look-a-like contest. The fun continues Sept. 13 at Worcester Common, minus the contest. Both days run 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and are free of charge. For more, go to bostonbruins.com/fanfest . . . Quiz answer: Bobby Orr signed a five-year, $1 million (total!) contract on Aug. 26, 1971. The ensuing season, the Bruins won the Stanley Cup and Orr took home the Hart (MVP), Norris (best defenseman), and Conn Smythe (playoff MVP) trophies. Now that’s a bang for your buck.
Jim McBride can be reached at james.mcbride@globe.com. Follow him @globejimmcbride.