Bruins Must Play Hagens at Center

When the Boston Bruins enter training camp next season, they should afford James Hagens every opportunity to play center. There’s value in having a player with Hagens’ skillset in the lineup, even if he starts on the wing, but his performance at the World Championship for Team USA has made it clear that he’s at his very best when playing down the middle.

The responsibilities of playing in the middle can be daunting for some players, so easing them into the lineup on the wing and letting them get acclimated to the speed at the NHL level isn’t an uncommon approach. For the Bruins, it made sense to use Hagens in this capacity early in his NHL career, especially given that he played wing for Boston College. At the same time, though, playing wing may have limited him during his brief NHL stint.

James Hagens Looks Like a Natural Center

Hagens is a capable winger, but he’s a star center who dictates the pace of play when skating down the middle. Anybody who has watched Hagens play center can attest to the fact that his entire toolkit is available to him offensively when he’s put in this position. His creativity, ability to drive play and his tendencies of creating opportunities for himself and his linemates are all things the Bruins lacked at the center position last season.

At some point, the Bruins need to stop viewing Elias Lindholm as a long-term No. 1 center solution. The reality of his performance must be what’s evaluated, and it’s clear that he isn’t the answer either in the short term or the long term. There are no guarantees that Hagens will dominate as a center in the NHL from his very first shift. If the Bruins believe Hagens has the potential to become their top center moving forward, though, they should give him every opportunity to grow into that role immediately. The same logic applies to Fraser Minten, and he made the most of his minutes this season as a rookie.

The Bruins aren’t yet good enough to be worrying about simply qualifying for the postseason. If the long-term plans include winning the Stanley Cup, then finding out what the team has in Hagens sooner rather than later is of the utmost importance. Nobody is arguing that Hagens should be handed playing time, but when certain players are being given a chance to play over him without any real justification, it’s hard not to question some of the decision-making.

There’s no justifiable reason for Hagens to have been watching half of the team’s six playoff games from the press box this postseason, especially when Viktor Arvidsson was injured in Game 4 and missed the last two games of the series. If players like Lukas Reichel, Alex Steeves and Michael Eyssimont are all deemed definitively more worthy of playing time than Hagens at this point in the Bruins contention timeline, then some step in the evaluation process is broken. This is especially true when Hagens didn’t look out of place in the NHL during his small sample size, even if the points didn’t necessarily follow the performances.