BOSTON, Mass. — The Bruins will be without rookie forward James Hagens for a while. Boston put the 20-year-old on injured reserve Saturday, the first IR stint of his career, two days after he took a cross-check from Pittsburgh defenseman Samuel Girard.
Coach Marco Sturm said after Saturday practice that Hagens will be out a few weeks. Sturm said he did not see the hit as dirty, only that it caught the young forward in a bad spot and that he will need time to heal.
The play came early in the third period of Boston’s 6-2 home win over the Penguins on Thursday. Hagens cut across the top of the crease on a drive to the net, and Girard’s stick caught him on the left side, just above the pants and below his upper-body padding. Hagens struggled to the bench, dropping to one knee on the way, and soon headed to the dressing room.
The move is backdated to Nov. 5, so he could technically return for Thursday’s game against Montreal, but Sturm’s timeline rules that out.
Boston took Hagens at No. 7 overall in the 2025 draft. He has six goals and six assists in 17 games. He turned 20 on Tuesday.
To fill the spot, Boston called up winger Mike Eyssimont from its top minor-league club in Providence, where he has 13 goals and three assists in eight games. At Saturday practice, Marat Khusnutdinov moved into the third-line spot Hagens had been filling, and center Matt Poitras skated as a left winger on a line with Morgan Geekie and Fraser Minten.
The Bruins sit first in the Atlantic Division at 12-4-1 and host the Florida Panthers on Sunday, followed by Montreal on Thursday and Minnesota on Saturday.
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