The 2025 NHL Draft is only a couple of days away and will take place on June 27 at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles. While the top representatives from each of the 32 NHL clubs will participate via video links from their facility locations, the projected top draft selections have been invited to attend the event personally.
One of the players who is expected to be off the board within the first 10 picks is James Hagens, a center who played for the Boston College Eagles in the NCAA tournament.
James Hagens Joins Spittin’ Chiclets Podcast, Speaks About Meeting With NHL Teams
Hagens joined former NHL players Paul Bissonnette, Ryan Whitney, and Keith Yandle on Monday’s episode of the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast to talk about the upcoming NHL Draft, and said that he plans to have at least 50 friends and family members joining him and taking it all in Los Angeles.
“It’s exciting, I have a big amount of family coming, I think it’s around 50 people. So, it will be cool,” Hagens said.
Hagens then revealed that not only did he meet with 16 NHL clubs during the Scouting Combine in Buffalo, but he was also asked an unusual scruples question by an unnamed team.
“There is a lot of tomfoolery,” Hagens said about his meetings with the teams. “Most meetings are good, it was mostly straight forward hockey, but you’ll get a couple that’ll just kind off the board. I forgot what team it was. I had a question: ‘If you’d stick your hand in a toilet to grab a $100 bill, ‘ or ‘if you’d grab a $20 bill on the sidewalk,’ There were a couple of questions like that. In the moment, it’s funny.”
Hagens, who was among a handful of projected top NHL draft selections to watch the Florida Panthers hoist the Stanley Cup last Tuesday at Amerant Bank Arena, said that attending his first Cup Final game and meeting some icons of the sport was an amazing experience.
“It was so cool,” he said. “First Stanley Cup game, so it was special when you’re walking downstairs and you’re meeting [Wayne] Gretzky, you are meeting guys you idolize. Oh, and I met Biz, too.” Hagens’ remark about Bissonnette drew immediate laughter from the rest of the panel and an NSFW response, albeit in jest, from the former NHL forward.
Hagens’s father then joined him on the podcast, talking about his son’s journey so far. Hagens, a native of Hauppauge, New York, scored 11 goals and 26 assists in 37 games with Boston College in the 2024-25 college season.
