Analyzing the James Hagens Goal Drought: A Cause for Concern? James Hagens Scouting Report

Analyzing the James Hagens Goal Drought: A Cause for Concern?

James Hagens is the current favorite to be the first overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. A left-shot center, he stands 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 178 pounds. James is renowned for his high hockey IQ, skating ability, and puck-handling skills.

Over the past two seasons with the USNTDP, Hagens established himself as a top offensive threat with immense potential. Now playing for Boston College in the NCAA, James has scored 15 points in 12 games. Sounds great, right? Well, not entirely. Of those points, only one is a goal, despite being on a line with recent NHL top draftees Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault.

What’s going on with James? Is this a cause for concern? With the impressive starts from Porter Martone and Michael Misa, could Hagens lose his grip on the top spot for the 2025 draft? To answer these questions, I’ve analyzed footage from multiple shifts and games he’s played at Boston College this season. First, I’ll highlight what James does well, then examine the goal drought, to determine whether it’s time to panic about Hagens.

James Hagens Scouting Report: What He Does Well

Hockey IQ and Offensive Creativity

As with most top NHL prospects, James Hagens possesses an incredibly high hockey IQ. A clip currently going viral on Instagram shows Hagens in the offensive zone, keeping his head up at all times, even while handling the puck—he never once looked down. This ability allows him to survey the ice effectively, calculating where to be and when. He is constantly moving to find open space, positioning himself perfectly to receive a pass or take a shot on goal.

Hagens is also exceptionally creative when he has the puck in the offensive zone. His slick hands enable him to make quick, crafty dekes to outmaneuver defenders. For instance, in Boston College’s first game of the season against Michigan State, Hagens carried the puck near the offensive blue line and skated toward the goaltender. With his head up and gaining speed, he aimed to squeeze between two Michigan State defenders. As they closed in for a check, Hagens appeared ready to pull the puck back and take a snapshot. However, at the last moment, he sent the puck to a teammate wide open at the side of the net, leading to a goal. His body, stick, and head were all angled as if he intended to shoot, completely fooling everyone—myself included.

This isn’t a new skill for Hagens. Highlights from previous seasons showcase his ability to use speed and deft puck handling to evade defenders and make goalies look foolish.

Skating

I’m not suggesting that James Hagens is the next Connor McDavid, because he isn’t, but his skating style is remarkably similar to that of the best player in hockey. James is incredibly fast and agile, utilizing quick crossovers to change direction and gain speed as he heads up the ice. Like McDavid, his acceleration gives the impression that he’s bouncing or bobbing off the ice when he shifts into high gear.

Thanks to this acceleration, Hagens has a unique ability to start slow with the puck, rapidly reach top speed, and use his quick hands and sharp vision to drive to the net or set up a teammate. His skating is already NHL-ready and is a standout aspect of his game.

Puck Handling

This has been touched on already, but it’s worth emphasizing that Hagens has exceptional hands. His deking ability is unmatched compared to other top prospects I’ve covered, such as Porter Martone and Michael Misa. Hagens excels in tight situations with defenders, maintaining control of the puck on his stick while executing quick, precise moves to evade them. He’s equally adept in front of the net, where his speed and finesse allow him to capitalize on scoring opportunities.

What sets him apart is how effortlessly he performs complex maneuvers, even at top speed or while navigating sharp turns. Hagens possesses all the offensive tools necessary to thrive at the next level.

Defensive game

James has played extremely well defensively from what I have seen. He stays low to support his defenseman, and picks up the uncovered opponents near his net. He also has an exceptional quick stick lift, which he utilizes to catch opponents off guard. If you have the puck near Hagens, you can expect him to take the puck away from you by quickly skating up to you, lifting your stick, and stealing the puck in the blink of an eye. From the game shifts I watched, he made little mistakes defensively, which is highly encouraging from a player his age in the NCAA.

His Goal Drought. What's Going on?

Despite all his undeniable talent, Hagens has only managed a single goal this year. While he’s not known as a sniper, one goal in 12 games on a line with Ryan Leonard and Gabe Perreault is concerning. It’s not like James hasn't tried. He has taken 38 shots, which works out to 3.167 shots per game. However, because he has only converted one shot to become a goal, his shooting percentage is a measly 2.63% (Shooting percentage indicates the average number of goals scored per 100 shots). For context, the average NHL shooting percentage is anywhere between 9-11%, with the best goal scorers hovering around 15%. While the NCAA is not the NHL, you would want a top prospect to be over 10%. A single digit shooting percentage, especially one as low as James’, can signify terrible luck, or terrible shooting ability.

A player of James' talent is bound to score at a much better rate, so some of this drought is due to being unlucky. He will get more pucks to go in the net. I witnessed him hit the crossbar on a quick one timer off the rush, and get robbed by a sliding left pad on another one timer from the close faceoff circle. He does get high danger chances, but hasn’t cashed in on them just yet. However, this is only part of the issue, all players get robbed from time to time.

Surprisingly, the Perreault-Hagens-Leonard line has done a terrible job at maintaining possession in the offensive zone. It seems whenever they control the puck in the offensive zone, they have trouble setting it up with their defenseman, and when they do get a shot, it almost always leads to a turnover and the puck leaves the zone. These struggles haven’t really translated in the stats department, as all three players are over a point per game, but all three players could have much higher point totals if they did a better job at controlling the puck and finding more high danger opportunities. I believe this is somewhat of a chemistry issue. Leonard and Perreault are familiar with each other, but James has only been on the team for a couple months. Hopefully, as chemistry develops between these linemates, James goal scoring opportunities and totals increase. A line of this talent should be getting more opportunities. 

Hagens has also had trouble finding his way to the net. In the past, Hagens was able to get behind the defenceman and bury a puck in tight to the goalie. Now facing the hardest competition he’s played, Hagens is having a tough time beating NCAA defenders to the net with the puck, and getting open for a pass near the net. This will come with time, and understanding the NCAA game, but a big part of his game has been neutralized for now.

Finally, his shot quality has gone down. He is taking a lot of shots where he is heavily contested by defenders, which leads to deflected or blocked shots (these don’t always show on the shot totals), or a weak shot. He hasn’t been able to generate space for himself to get a puck on net, and hasn’t found as many shooting lanes as he did before. He needs to take his shots quicker, or choose better opportunities to shoot. However, with his offensive creativity and talent, he should start finding and learning more ways to get open and find better shooting lanes.

In summary, James is facing a mix of bad luck, developing chemistry with linemates, and growing pains in the NCAA. While Hagens has tried to make up for these goal scoring issues by using his passing and hockey IQ to find his teammates open for assists, he must score more goals to prove he is worthy of the first overall pick.

So, should we sound the alarms?

From what I've gathered, most of the issues are just growing pains from playing in his first NCAA season against better competition. Hagens will learn to better position himself offensively as time goes by. He will learn to be quicker with his shots and dekes as defenders pounce on him. His luck will (hopefully) turn around. Hagens has so much offensive talent and hockey IQ that it seems impossible that he will continue scoring at this rate. If he didn’t possess as much raw talent, I would say it is time to move him down the rankings, but that is simply not the case.

So, no, there is no need to panic. Hagens will be fine. He remains the best player in the draft and clearly possesses exceptional traits that outweigh his current scoring struggles. If his scoring doesn’t improve over the next month or two, it might warrant reassessment, as it could indicate he’s struggling to adapt to the college game. However, if he does turn it around, it would demonstrate persistence and growth, which is an invaluable quality that would further enhance his already impressive NHL draft resume.