Haggs is ‘Back’ as Lead Boston Bruins Reporter at BHN

Are you ready for the most in-depth Boston Bruins coverage around? Can you really say you’re “back” when you never went away in the first place?

After a weird (for me anyway) couple of weeks in limbo when I couldn’t officially answer your questions about my future covering the Boston Bruins, I can let all of you loyal followers and readers in on my next move. With this note, I am happy to announce I’ll be covering all things Bruins and the NHL for the Boston Hockey Now site moving forward.

I can’t thank everybody enough for the kind words following my departure from NBC Sports Boston, where I’m filled with nothing but appreciation and gratitude for a tremendous 11-year run there as the Bruins Insider.

As I said on twitter, however, I covered the Bruins for six seasons prior to joining up with NBC Sports Boston and knew I’d be sticking around Causeway Street after moving on to someplace else.

I’ve got to tell you it’s an exciting time moving to a new, growing outlet that’s fully focused on hockey and the Bruins, and where I’ll have a major hand in all the various ways in which we bring that coverage to you. Dan Kingerski has done a marvelous job building up the Hockey Now brand in hockey markets like Pittsburgh, Colorado, Florida, San Jose, Long Island and Vegas along with Boston, and I’m proud to be joining up with longtime colleagues like Adrian Dater, George Richards, Shelley Anderson and Jimmy Murphy.

I’ll be taking over the day-to-day beat coverage duties for the Bruins, writing columns, breaking news, recording podcasts and hockey videos, and creating all kinds of content based on my take, and on the latest developments with the B’s that everybody is crowing about.

By now, all of you know me with almost 20 years covering the Bruins.

I was there asking questions of an 18-year-old Patrice Bergeron when he was a shy Quebec kid with peach fuzz a little unsure of his English, but absolutely on track be one of the best players in the organization’s history. I was there when the Bruins collapsed in four straight games to the Flyers in 2010, and when they let a golden Cup chance slip their fingers in Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.

It was me that was first saying it was time to move on from Claude Julien when it took everybody, and I mean everybody, else on the Bruins a long, long time to realize that it was for a change. Claude is the best head coach in the history of the Bruins, but the innovative, winning job done over the last four seasons by Jack Adams winner Bruce Cassidy has proven this humble hockey writer correct.

It was me that was raving about 18-year-old David Pastrnak as the B’s next superstar after watching exactly one day of him at Bruins development camp a week after he was drafted in the first round. His dazzling skills absolutely jumped off the ice like few others do at those kinds of camps.

I was also there in Vancouver in 2011 when the Bruins won it all, and was interviewing Shawn Thornton on television postgame when he uttered the classic “Suck it, Felger” line on live television. Fun side note: Thornton good-naturedly flipped me the bird again on live television from a duck boat a few days later while we were doing Cup parade coverage on live TV.

What a beauty that guy is.

I’ll always tell you the unvarnished truth both good and bad with the Black and Gold. I’m not going to pull any punches when it comes to criticism when it’s warranted. I’ll also always give credit where it’s due as it is much of the time with a Bruins hockey club that’s among the best in the Eastern Conference.

But if you’re looking for Black and Gold pompom wavers and opinion-makers writing columns while wearing Bruins footy pajamas, you’ve probably come to the wrong place.

Instead, you’ll find Boston Hockey Now to be a one-stop shop where you’ll get the news, the opinion and the inside scoop on what’s happening with the Boston Bruins. We’re entering uncharted waters where we don’t know when the NHL regular season is going to begin, what it’s going to look like when it does return and how it’s all going to play out after the league successfully pulled off the bubble playoffs in Toronto and Edmonton.

But that’s not going to stop us from giving you everything you’re thirsting for when it comes to the Boston Bruins. And by “us” I mean yours truly and my longtime friend and colleague Murph, who will continue to provide all manner of content to Boston Hockey Now. Murph is one of the most well-connected hockey media guys in the business and we’re going to shine a spotlight on that moving forward. We’ve long talked about becoming an Irish tag-team on the Bruins beat together, and that’s finally about to become a reality after knowing each other for almost 20 years.

We can’t wait.

We hope you’re as excited as we are about all of this. So a heartfelt thanks to the loyal Boston Hockey Now readers that were here prior to my arrival and a warm welcome to all the newcomers looking for the inside scoop on the Boston Bruins. As for my loyal following: I can’t thank you guys and gals enough for following me over to this new address.

Much of our Bruins/NHL coverage will be free to read, but we’ll also have other premium content called BHN+ that will ask you to be a paid member for viewing. Please accept my thanks in advance for those of you willing to pony up for a BHN membership to get all the awesome Bruins content we’re going to provide.

If you promise to keep reading, we promise to keep cranking out the quality Black and Gold content from every practice, every game and every move the Boston Bruins make along the way. Now let’s drop the puck!