Bruins land James Hagens and Islanders fans immediately spiral

Early Friday, the New York Islanders, who owned the first overall pick of the 2025 NHL Entry Draft on Friday night in Los Angeles, traded defenseman Noah Dobson to the Montreal Canadiens for prospect Emil Heineman and the 16th and 17th picks later that night in the draft.

It was a move that many around the NHL thought was to take those picks and bundle them in a deal to move up somewhere between second and sixth, but that deal never materialized, as many speculated that they wanted Long Island native James Hagens. After selecting Matthew Schaefer first overall, which was a no-brainer, but they wanted Hagens.

After some draft chaos with the fifth pick when the Nashville Predators took Brady Martin, that left the door open for Hagens to fall to the Bruins at No. 7. After the Philadelphia Flyers took Porter Martone, Hagens fell to the Boston Bruins and Don Sweeney. It didn't take long for them to select him, and it upset Islanders fans at their gathering inside UBS Arena on Friday night.

Islanders draft party gets sad after Bruins select James Hagens

After the Islanders took Schaefer, their fans still had visions of the front office making a trade to try and grab Hagens as he fell after each pick following New York's first one. They didn't, and after a little chaos in front of them, Boston was able to take Hagens, and Islanders fans were not happy, according to Greg Wyshynski of ESPN, who posted a video on X.

As you can hear and see, Islanders fans were not happy that Hagens wouldn't be playing for his hometown team. There was some thought that New York could pivot to the Bruins earlier in the day with Dobson to acquire the seventh overall pick, but it would not have made any sense for Sweeney to do so. When Hagens went to speak with the Bruins' front office on ESPN, there were some technical difficulties, and maybe for Islanders fans, it was best.