Boston Bruins
“We’d be silly to not use him — see if he makes a distinction or not.”
Only a week after making his NHL debut on the street in opposition to Columbus, Bruins high prospect James Hagens is in line to play his first playoff sport.
Talking to reporters on Friday morning at Warrior Ice Enviornment, Bruins head coach Marco Sturm stated that Hagens has a great shot of being within the lineup for Boston’s first-round sequence opener in opposition to the Sabres — with Game 1 in Buffalo set for Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
“We didn’t resolve but, however there’s a reasonably good likelihood, I’d say, that James would possibly play Recreation 1,” Sturm said. “It’s simply the final two video games, he gave me quite a lot of pleasure. … He did a reasonably good job with the puck, managing the puck, taking part in with out the puck, by no means received in bother as a line with [Fraser] Minten and [Marat Khusnutdinov], I really feel like there’s some chemistry.
“So quite a lot of good occurred in these two video games and, yeah, we’ll see how the following few days play out. However I’m very, very enthusiastic about that.”
A day earlier, Hagens was a full participant throughout Thursday’s apply on the crew’s facility in Brighton – skating alongside his normal linemates in Minten and Khusnutdinov.
Even with simply two NHL video games underneath his belt, the 19-year-old Hagens introduced loads of tempo, forechecking strain, and powerful wall play to Boston’s bottom-six grouping.
After recording a secondary help in Boston’s win over Columbus final Sunday, Hagens usually pressured puck carriers and jump-started his membership’s transition sport throughout Tuesday’s common season finale in opposition to the Devils.
To date, Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov likes what he sees from that third line — a trio that has a median age of simply 21 years outdated.
“I’m impressed,” Zadorov stated Friday. “I imply, this yr, we’ve received three unbelievable children, and so they’re all taking part in on the identical line proper now. It’s enjoyable to look at. … In opposition to New Jersey, you’ll be able to see how sensible [Hagens] is on the ice, how good his stick is, and, yeah, I’m excited for him to expertise what I’m going to expertise on Sunday as properly.
“First playoff sport, I keep in mind mine. It was when [Nashville] was buzzing, and we went for warmups. It was like 20,000 individuals carrying orange and yellow, and so they had been simply screaming how [bad] you might be. … I had goosebumps. James goes to expertise that on Sunday in Buffalo, and it’s going to be unimaginable.”
Past producing offense additional down on the depth chart, Hagens’s skating capacity and creativity with the puck on his stick may additionally come in useful on the facility play.
Though Boston didn’t log any power-play reps throughout Hagens’s two video games within the NHL ranks this week, Sturm harassed on Friday that the younger ahead shall be on the person benefit through the postseason.
“That’s his largest energy, is on the facility play,” Sturm stated of Hagens. “So we’d be silly to not use him — see if he makes a distinction or not. However sure, if he performs, he will certainly be on the facility play.”
Boston’s energy play ranked ninth within the NHL this season, however tailed off down the stretch, rating simply twenty eighth general after the Winter Olympics with only a 16.2 % success fee.
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