HagensWatch is (kind of) officially over, as the Bruins announced late Monday night that they’ve signed their 2025 first-round pick to an amateur tryout agreement, or an ATO.
An ATO can be viewed as a compromise of sorts between the player and the team: Hagens will get a chance to show his stuff at the professional level, but he’ll do it without immediately burning a year on his yet-to-be-signed entry-level contract (ELC).
Because he’s signed on an ATO, the Bruins also won’t feel compelled to immediately
give him regular NHL ice time, which could be a tall ask in the midst of a heated Eastern Conference playoff race.
The New York Islanders are taking the same round with Cole Eiserman, their 2024 first-round pick who signed an ATO last week after his college season ended.
If Hagens lights it up and the Bruins decide his AHL stay will be temporary, they’ll have to end his ATO and officially sign him to that aforementioned ELC in order to play him at the NHL level.
The ATO provides both sides with the added flexibility of not being an official contract of any kind, meaning Hagens won’t lose his NCAA eligibility and could, in theory, end up back at Boston College next season.
At this point, that seems unlikely, but it’s an option.
The Bruins used the ATO route with Charlie McAvoy back in 2017, when he joined Providence on an ATO after Boston University’s season ended.
McAvoy’s AHL stay was brief, as he ended up called up to the Bruins (and playing in the playoffs) due to a depleted defense corps.
As part of the ATO, Hagens will report to Providence, where he’s expected to practice with the P-B’s on Tuesday morning.
The P-Bruins will play at Springfield on Wednesday, then will play back-to-back home games against Bridgeport and Springfield this weekend.
In case you’re interested in watching Hagens live, you can stream AHL games via a FloHockey subscription.
(The P-Bruins are also very good this year, so they’re probably worth the price of admission/subscription anyways.)
Overall, this is probably a good result for both sides, and for the fans who were already spiraling into “Hagens is going to demand a trade” conspiracy theories on Twitter.
