Michigan’s hockey program continues to take advantage of the Canadian Hockey League players now being eligible to compete at the NCAA level.

On Wednesday, the Wolverines scored their fourth commitment from a CHL player, with Flint Firebirds defenseman Matthew Mania announcing his verbal pledge on social media.

The 20-year-old right-handed shot has aged out of the Ontario Hockey League — one of the three CHL leagues — but can now play college hockey since the NCAA lifted its longstanding ban on Canadian major junior players who were previously deemed to be professionals because they received stipends from their teams.

He was a fifth-round pick of the Los Angeles Kings in 2023 but they no longer hold his rights by not signing him to an entry-level contract by the June 1 deadline. Last season, Mania registered a career-high 45 points (seven goals, 38 assists) in 66 games for the Firebirds.

The 6-foot-1, 190-pounder spent the first three seasons of his OHL career with the Sudbury Wolves, totaling 16 goals and 74 points in 161 games.

Michigan only had one right-shot defenseman on its roster last season but now has three with the addition of Mania. Hunter Hady is back for his sophomore season, while the team also added Henry Mews from the OHL’s Wolves. The 2024 third-round pick of the Flames finished third among OHL blue liners in scoring last season with 82 points.

After missing the NCAA Tournament last season for the first time since 2019, the Wolverines are bringing in a talented freshman class. There’s a chance six incoming freshmen could be selected during this week’s NHL draft, while Mews and Mania have already been drafted.

Bruins

“I love winning. I will do anything to win.”

James Hagens has said all of the right things when it came to potentially continuing his hockey journey from Chestnut Hill to Causeway Street.

“I love Boston,” Hagens said in a meeting with the media a month ahead of the 2025 NHL Draft. “Being at Boston College, we’re right in the middle of Boston there. So it’s a beautiful city. Only great things to say about it. I love it there.”

Granted, the prospect of Hagens donning a spoked-B for the foreseeable future has been deemed a far-fetched scenario for most of the last year — even as Boston plummeted toward a top-10 pick in this draft.

Sitting at No. 7 overall on the draft order, the Bruins should be positioned to add a talented center prospect on Friday evening. 

But the consensus top prospect entering the 2024-25 season in Hagens? No shot … right?

It hasn’t taken long for that sentiment to change. 

Once deemed the crown jewel of the 2025 Draft class, Hagens has now been leapfrogged by other blue-chip talents like defenseman Matthew Schaefer and forward Michael Misa. 

But Hagens’ fall down the draft board might go beyond just the top two perches, however.

In his last 2025 mock draft, TSN insider Bob McKenzie — using insight from 10 different NHL scouts — tabbed Hagens as the No. 7 prospect in this class, right in Boston’s wheelhouse. 

McKenzie’s TSN colleague Craig Button has Hagens listed as the No. 8 prospect in his final rankings, while The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler has Boston selecting the BC star with the No. 7 pick in his final mock draft. 

“Everyone I’ve talked to in the last week or so seems to think O’Brien/Martin/Hagens don’t get past the Flyers and Bruins at 6-7, and yet one of the top eight guys has to go outside the top seven,” Wheeler wrote. “I’ve also heard the Bruins have looked into moving up.

“I do think it’s interesting that the Flyers and Bruins seem to like the same three guys and pick back-to-back, though, and Hagens just makes so much sense for the Bruins as that high-end piece to build around if he’s there.”

On paper, Hagens is seemingly everything an NHL team would covet in a top-six, play-driving center in today’s NHL.

The 18-year-old pivot is dangerous in transition as one of the top skaters in this draft class. Even though he doesn’t have the same heft as 6-foot-5 Roger McQueen or the pugnacious approach as Brady Martin, Hagens’ hockey IQ, hands, and puck skills make him a lethal playmaker in tight spaces. 

Even if earlier comparisons of Jack Hughes might have to be tempered, the Long Island native is cut from the same cloth as slighter, uber-skilled forwards like Clayton Keller or Logan Cooley. 

In other words … a player that a talent-deficient Bruins roster would love to add to their pipeline if fortune falls their way. 

“He was a key component of the US National Team Development Program and a driver there, and was able to step into Boston College and play on their top line with some really good players,” Bruins director of amateur scouting Ryan Nadeau said of Hagens during the NHL Scouting Combine. “Watching him and the way he skates and the way he can attack open ice, and the way he can create space, and he’s got such good skill and vision, and he’s such a good driver. It was impressive to watch him this year. 

“His game has really come along. He’s gotten stronger, and it helped to be in college and take on that challenge. Even after school to now, he’s worked really hard to put on some extra muscle. And getting to know James and spending a little bit of time with him, he comes from a really great family.

“He gets to play with his brother at Boston College. Both his parents are eighth-grade teachers. He’s just a really, really impressive kid. He’s got a young sister who’s a pretty good hockey player too, and just a good family dynamic. And just spending a little bit of time with him, it’s been good to see him off the ice and get to know him.”

If Hagens is available at No. 7, the Bruins would welcome the opportunity to add such a high-end center prospect to their system — with the absence of a blue-chip talent down the middle standing as the top impediment toward Boston reasserting itself as a contender in due time. 

Injuries and off-the-ice concerns have held no weight over why Hagens has slipped in recent draft projections.

Rather, the knock against Hagens lies more in his 5-foot-11 frame and the production he showcased as a freshman at BC. 

At first glance, Hagnes was a key cog on a strong Eagles squad — closing out his first year against Hockey East competition with 37 points (11 goals, 26 assists) in 37 games.

Perhaps Hagens’ inability to replicate the video-game-like statlines of other freshman phenoms over the last decade like Jack Eichel (71 points in 40 games), Adam Fantilli (65 points in 36 games), and Macklin Celebrini (64 points in 38 games) has skewered some of the sentiment about just how elite of a prospect Hagens might be. 

But comparing Hagens to other ‘25 draft picks like Misa (134 points in 63 games) should ring hollow, given the sizable step-up in competition that the 18-year-old Hagens was routinely battling against this past year against players three to five years older than him. 

The concerns over whether or not Hagens’ size could have him developing into more of a skilled 2C than a franchise centerman are more valid — although his ceiling would seemingly be higher than other potential options at No. 7 overall like Martin or McQueen.  

Even if one might have a gripe with Hagens only submitting a point-per-game season as a college freshman at BC, Hagens’ body of work for years now map out a player who should be an electrifying offensive player at the next level. 

During the 2023-24 season, Hagens racked up 102 points (39 goals, 63 assists) in 58 games with the U.S. U-18 National Development Program — a higher scoring total than submitted by the likes of Ryan Leonard (94), Phil Kessel (98 points), and Matthew Tkachuk (95 points) during their respective U18 campaigns.

The only players in that program to equal or surpass that scoring total in a single season? Patrick Kane, Cole Eiserman, Clayton Keller, Jack Hughes, Auston Matthews, Will Smith, and Gabe Perreault. 

Hagens also set a new scoring record at the 2024 World U18 Championships with 22 points (nine goals, 13 assists) in just seven games, breaking the previous record set by Nikita Kucherov.

He may be a bit undersized, but Hagens’ has a years-long track record of decimating opposing defenses. 

Had the Bruins moved up in the draft lottery and picked first or second overall, the case can be made that Hagens would fall behind the likes of Schaefer and Misa.

But at No. 7 overall? If a player with Hagens’ potential is sliding down that far, the Bruins shouldn’t think twice about adding such a talent to their organization. 

“I love winning. I will do anything to win,” Hagens said. Something that’s helped me get to the point where I am today is just how hard I’ve been able to work my whole life. Nothing’s ever come easy. I’ve had to work for everything that I’ve ever gotten before, and that’s something I’m super grateful for. 

“That’s something that’s just within my family, something that I was raised up, taught from my parents and my coaches. So, going into those meetings just really expressing how hard I compete, and how badly I want to be on a team and hopefully win a Stanley Cup one day.”

 

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.

The Bruins picked Dean Letourneau in the first-round of the 2024 NHL Draft but he didn’t pan out exactly how they wanted in his first year.

Before Boston picked Letourneau, he played in prep school at St. Andrew’s College in Ontario. He tore up prep school, totaling 127 points on 61 goals and 66 assists through 56 games in his last season.

The 6-foot-7, 210-pound forward played just two games in the United States Hockey League with the Sioux Fall Stampede.

After Letourneau was drafted to the Bruins, he opted to go to Boston College instead of staying another year in the USHL. Typically, the USHL is used as a way to develop players before they make the switch to either college or professional hockey.

With the 19-year-old’s choice, he struggled in his first season with the Eagles. He skated in 36 games, tallying three assists and a plus-6 rating. His production ranked at the bottom of BC’s freshman class. Meanwhile, current 2025 draft prospect James Hagens popped off the stat sheet.

Boston general manager Don Sweeney admitted on Wednesday that Letourneau could have used an extra year in the USHL.

“We talked a little bit about what would be the best place in terms of Dean and in hindsight, I think we all agreed that maybe another year in USHL, a full year of USHL would have been the best path,” Sweeney told reporters on Wednesday.

Sweeney does believe that physically, Letourneau’s game did translate well to the college level. The Bruins prospect will be headed back to the Eagles in the fall, meaning he can prove himself more in his sophomore season.

“He’s been tested mentally and physically,” Sweeney said. “He’s putting in work now that he has an understanding of how much work it requires to play and that level and be successful.”

NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Head coach Tracy Johnson announced the hiring of Ashley Holmes as an assistant coach for the St. Olaf College women’s hockey program on Thursday.

Holmes joins Johnson’s staff after spending two seasons as the director of operations for the University of Minnesota women’s hockey program. Prior to that, she served as an assistant coach at fellow Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) member Augsburg University for nine seasons.

“Ashley is the perfect fit for our program,” Johnson said. “She brings incredible energy, passion for developing student-athletes, and a commitment to the values of Ole Athletics. She also brings a proven track record of success in recruiting and in building programs that compete at the national level. I have no doubt that her experience, work ethic, and ability to connect with players will help take our program to the next level. We are thrilled to have her join the St. Olaf family and can’t wait to see the positive influence she will have on our student-athletes.”

At the University of Minnesota, Holmes managed and organized all aspects of team travel, oversaw all administrative functions of the women’s hockey office, coordinated scheduling of facilities for team practices/functions, and was responsible for video operations, among other responsibilities. The Golden Gophers posted a 56-22-3 (.710) record during Holmes’ two seasons and qualified for the NCAA Tournament in both seasons, including a run to the Frozen Four in 2024-25, while finishing both seasons ranked in the top five nationally.

During her nine seasons at Augsburg, Holmes helped the Auggies to a record of 123-73-24 (.614) and eight consecutive MIAC Playoff appearances from 2016-23. She was primarily responsible for the team’s defense and coached one two-time All-American, eight All-MIAC selections, seven Honorable Mention All-MIAC honorees, and one MIAC Rookie of the Year. Holmes recruited 52 traditional first-year and 11 transfer student-athletes over nine recruiting classes at Augsburg.

Holmes played collegiate hockey at the University of North Dakota, skating in 138 games while earning All-Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Academic Team honors in 2011-12 and WCHA Scholar-Athlete Award honors in 2009-10. She graduated from North Dakota with a bachelor’s degree in biology/pre-medicine and a minor in psychology in 2013 before earning a master of arts in leadership from Augsburg in 2018. Holmes got her start in coaching as an assistant coach at Alexandria Area High School in 2013-14, helping the program to a Section 6A title and a fifth-place finish in the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) Class A State Tournament.

 

Holmes joined head coach Tracy John’s staff after spending two seasons as the director of operations for the University of Minnesota women’s hockey program. Prior to that, she served as an assistant coach at fellow Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) member Augsburg University for nine seasons.

At the University of Minnesota, Holmes managed and organized all aspects of team travel, oversaw all administrative functions of the women’s hockey office, coordinated scheduling of facilities for team practices/functions, and was responsible for video operations, among other responsibilities. The Golden Gophers posted a 56-22-3 (.710) record during Holmes’ two seasons and qualified for the NCAA Tournament in both seasons, including a run to the Frozen Four in 2024-25, while finishing both seasons ranked in the top five nationally.

During her nine seasons at Augsburg, Holmes helped the Auggies to a record of 123-73-24 (.614) and eight consecutive MIAC Playoff appearances from 2016-23. She was primarily responsible for the team’s defense and coached one two-time All-American, eight All-MIAC selections, seven Honorable Mention All-MIAC honorees, and one MIAC Rookie of the Year. Holmes recruited 52 traditional first-year and 11 transfer student-athletes over nine recruiting classes at Augsburg.

Holmes played collegiate hockey at the University of North Dakota, skating in 138 games while earning All-Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCFA) Academic Team honors in 2011-12 and WCHA Scholar-Athlete Award honors in 2009-10. She graduated from North Dakota with a bachelor’s degree in biology/pre-medicine and a minor in psychology in 2013 before earning a master of arts in leadership from Augsburg in 2018. Holmes got her start in coaching as an assistant coach at Alexandria Area High School in 2013-14, helping the program to a Section 6A title and a fifth-place finish in the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) Class A State Tournament.