BUFFALO — James Hagens doesn’t obsess over the myriad of mock drafts pouring out as the NHL Draft nears on June 27 in Los Angeles, most of which project the Hauppauge product to be selected anywhere from third to sixth.

That would still make him the highest-drafted player from Long Island, bettering West Islip’s Mike Komisarek, who went seventh overall to the Canadiens in 2001. But Hagens, a 5-11 center who has played one season for Boston College, has higher aspirations and would have those even if the Islanders, the team he grew up rooting for, didn’t own the No. 1 pick.

“People have their own opinion, that’s just the way it is,” Hagens said to a trio of Islanders’ beat reporters on Friday prior to the start of media day at the NHL Scouting Combine at the LECOM Harborcenter. “I know that I want to be the first person off the board. It’s just a competitive nature, competitive instinct I have.

“My goal is to not only get to the NHL but to win the Stanley Cup. It’s to do that with whatever team wants you. Whatever team takes a chance on you.”

However, all indications from the Scouting Combine, which concludes on Saturday with the prospects’ fitness testing, are the Islanders are quite comfortable selecting consensus No. 1 pick Matthew Schaefer, a left-shooting defenseman who doesn’t turn 18 until Sept. 5. The Islanders won the NHL Draft Lottery on May 5 despite having just a 3.5% chance of doing so.

Both Schaefer and Hagens had dinner with Islanders’ officials this week. Hagens also had dinner with Utah while San Jose, which owns the No. 2 pick, also had dinner with Schaefer. The Islanders also had a dinner meeting with center Michael Misa, widely considered likely to be the second player drafted.

“I don’t really want to go into specifics with players but we saw some impressive young men,” new Islanders general manager/executive vice president Mathieu Darche told Newsday. “We knew they all have their skills, they all have their qualities. All I know is with the first pick I’ll get a special player, so that’s what I’m excited about. But it was great to spend time with them. We spent more time with some kids than others. It helps make our decision for June 27.

“Sometimes in those interviews you hear a lot of the same answers. But you can see the guy, if he’s genuine. Honestly, everybody at the top of the board was impressive.”

The 5-11, 177-pound Hagens, who spent two seasons with the U.S. National Development Team before joining Boston College, cited Devils’ star Jack Hughes when asked the inevitable comparison question.

The 6-2, 183-pound Schaefer, who suffered a broken collarbone in December while playing for Team Canada in the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship, compared his play in part to elite-skating Cale Makar, a five-time Norris Trophy finalist who won the award as the NHL’s top defenseman in 2022.

Schaefer, from Stoney Creek, Ontario, was limited to 17 games in his second season of junior hockey with Erie of the Ontario Hockey League. But he said on Friday he was medically cleared on May 1, though he will not participate in the bench press and pull-up testing on Saturday.

“There’s a lot of great teams in the NHL and the Islanders, I read a lot of great things about them,” Schaefer said to a small group of reporters before his media day session. “So, yeah, I’d love to be an Islander. I’d love to go first overall. Now, it’s really in their hands and it’s what a team wants.”

Schaefer said he would work this summer with personal coach Mark Giordano, who played 17 seasons in the NHL in a group that includes Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech.

Schaefer said he believed he could jump right to the NHL next season and Hagens did not rule out that possibility.

“I do,” Schaefer said. “This summer is going to be very big for me. My goal is to play in the NHL.”

Said Hagens: “It’s depending on the team that picks you and the conversation you have with them. That’s a decision you make with your family and the team after the draft.”

Darche agreed the top pick could play in the NHL right away based on his performance at training camp but said the Islanders were taking a longer view.

“A lot of times the first pick plays and it’s definitely a strong option,” Darche said. “But we have to be open-minded. Our goal is not have a guy where it’s, ‘Oh, he has to play this year.’ We want a guy that’s going to play 10, 15, if not more, years with the Islanders.”