- Marco Sturm says James Hagens has to earn a bigger role before he gets one
- Marat Khusnutdinov and Fraser Minten are the blueprint Sturm keeps pointing to
- Read below for Sturm’s full comments on Hagens, playing time and the captaincy
Marco Sturm is not handing James Hagens anything in September.
The Bruins head coach sat down with Evan Marinofsky on Bruins Beat on Thursday and was asked how he plans to handle the 19-year-old center at his first NHL training camp. Sturm did not dance around it.
“They have to show me first. The player for me always dictates how much they want to play in certain situations,” Sturm said. “If Hagens shows me that he’s ready for that next step, I will give him that. I’m not that dumb.”
Watch the full conversation:
Boston took Hagens seventh overall in 2025, and he had a big sophomore year at Boston College with 23 goals and 47 points in 34 games. He also squeezed in six games with Providence, two NHL regular season games and three more in the playoffs.
None of that buys him a spot. Sturm keeps coming back to two guys who arrived with far less fanfare and played their way up anyway.
Fraser Minten was a second-round pick by Toronto in 2022. Marat Khusnutdinov went 37th to Minnesota in 2020. Neither was drafted by the Bruins, and both put up career numbers last season, Minten with 17 goals and 35 points in 82 games, Khusnutdinov with 15 goals and 33 points in 77.
They each got stretches next to David Pastrnak because of how they played, not because of where they were picked. That’s the standard Sturm is setting for the kid with the better draft pedigree.
Not everyone thinks Hagens will be waiting long. Boston hockey reporter Jimmy Murphy said on The Eye Test Podcast that he expects Hagens to crack the roster out of camp, just on the wing rather than down the middle:
Room is the real problem. Michael Eyssimont, Alex Steeves and Lukas Reichel are all signed and all fighting for the same handful of bottom-six shifts, and Matthew Poitras is still unsigned as a restricted free agent after playing three games last season.
Sturm also touched on the captaincy, which Boston still has not filled. He was asked what he looks for in the role and brought up Pastrnak by name, per Marinofsky:
Cam Neely said earlier this month that the Bruins may not name a captain at all this season, so Sturm’s answer lines up with what the front office has been saying.
Bruins camp opens next month. Hagens gets his chance to make Sturm’s decision an easy one.
