This is mentioned in the QueryHints Javadoc (admittedly, no-one would really look there):

/**

• Hint providing a "fetchgraph" EntityGraph. Attributes explicitly specified as AttributeNodes are treated as
• FetchType.EAGER (via join fetch or subsequent select).
• Note: Currently, attributes that are not specified are treated as FetchType.LAZY or FetchType.EAGER depending
• on the attribute's definition in metadata, rather than forcing FetchType.LAZY.
  */

So, "fetchgraph" and "loadgraph" are currently identical. It's not currently possible to force laziness through JPQL/HQL, but hopefully this will become possible. Leaving this open for that reason.