James Hagens is tied for the top spot on the NHL rookie scoring list as the Bruins get ready for the Golden Knights tonight.
He has 5 goals and 6 assists for 11 points in 15 games, and Boston sits 10-4-1, first in the Atlantic Division. The seventh overall pick in 2025 is producing exactly when the Bruins need depth behind their top line.
Hagens stays on the third line with Casey Mittelstadt and Elias Lindholm. Nothing in the morning skate suggests Marco Sturm is changing a group that is clearly working.
Jim McBride of the Boston Globe posted the Monday morning skate lines, with Hagens between Mittelstadt and Lindholm on the third trio.
The NHL watcher's rookie scoring post puts Hagens and Toronto's Gavin McKenna level at 11 points, but Hagens got there in 15 games and McKenna needed 16.
The duel tonight is the sub-plot. Vegas forward Trevor Connelly has 4 goals and 5 assists for 9 points in 15 games, third on that list, and he skates on the other bench at TD Garden.
The Golden Knights are 9-5-1 and lost 2-5 to the Devils on Friday, so they'll arrive with something to prove.
Why the Bruins' third line is quietly driving this start
Hagens is a +6 on the season with 1 power-play assist. Over his NHL career he now has 12 points in 17 games, and most of that production has arrived in this early stretch.
Here's a call: a teenager with 11 points in 15 games has earned a look higher in the lineup, and Sturm should at least test it before the schedule gets heavier. The top line already carries a lot of the load, and the third trio keeps giving him a reason to spread it around.
Hagens's linemates frame the numbers well. Lindholm has 12 points, Mittelstadt has 9, and the rookie sits between them with 11. Hagens said on what Elias Lindholm has taught him that he is soaking it up, and the production backs him.
Swayman is in goal for Boston, and the puck drops tonight with Hagens holding a share of the lead. McKenna and the Maple Leafs host Utah on Tuesday, which gives him the first chance to pull ahead.
