On Tuesday night, Robert Hagg skated in his seventh NHL game when the Flyers took on the Florida Panthers. As one of the more overlooked and therefore less pressured players in the Flyers’ prospect pool, Hagg has been given the chance to grow into the player he is today, one who brings calmness to his team whenever he is on the ice.
“You could barely notice he was on the ice” is a saying that no forward wants to hear, but a defenseman will take with pride. The thought process in that is you’ll only be noticed defensively when you mess up, but when you don’t mess up, your presence won’t be recognized. Of course, this is simplified, but Robert Hagg fits this description with ease. A game is but a microcosm, but against Florida, Hagg was strong all night.
In the first period of play, Hagg got seven shifts. In his third shift, Hagg was unselfish; when needed, he switched spots on the ice when other Flyers drifted, and when Jake Voracek was needing help below the hashmarks, Hagg skated to take his drop-pass and continue the Flyers’ offensive stronghold on that shift.
Even when Hagg is in the neutral zone, a place where mayhem usually can and does happen, he remains sound positionally. In his 10th shift, the Panthers were attempting to break out, and Vincent Trocheck was moving closer to the far-side boards. Hagg, noticing this movement, skated ever-so slightly to his right to take away any advantage Trocheck would be able to get. The puck did go to Trocheck, but because of Hagg’s position, Trocheck was forced to skate into the less-preferable middle of the ice, and he lost the puck because of it.
Head coach Dave Hakstol said that Hagg is doing “a lot of little things.” A shot from the point may not seem like much, but if it’s shot sneakily enough, it could create chaos. A quick snap shot by Hagg in the first period had to be handled carefully by Luongo. Those chances may not be converted frequently, but with a point shot, how the puck comes off the stick is almost more important than where or how hard it’s shot.
Hagg finished the game with his first NHL point with an assist on a goal by his defensive partner, Shayne Gostisbehere, that made it 2-0. Hagg actually passed the puck to Gostisbehere following a block he made on the previous defensive play. For Hakstol, this is a forgotten moment.
“One of the things that’s lost on, I think it was maybe our first goal tonight, the shot block at our end of the rink,” Hakstol said in reply to a question about Hagg’s effectiveness this season. “And it comes down the other end and we score a big goal. So the thing that gets lost in a play like that is the shot block 200 feet away, but he makes that play defensively and he gives us the ability to go the other direction.”
Gostisbehere is somewhat of a “wild card”; you never really know if he will have a dominant offensive night or a poor defensive showing. Having Hagg be with him provides a sense of serenity, something that cannot be shown with statistics, but with the eye test.
Of course, when evaluating players, it’s always good to have a mixture of analysis from observations and from statistics, standard and advanced. With Hagg, his statistics back up what is seen by observation.
During play at five-on-five, Hagg actually comes second on the team with 96:10 minutes of time on ice, just behind Gostisbehere. He has just over 50 seconds more ice time than Ivan Provorov, the bonafide number one defenseman for the Flyers. This indicates that Hakstol trusts Hagg enough to give him this high amount of ice time. Hakstol, in regards to the “little things” Hagg does, said, “For a young player, he’s doing them with good confidence.”
Taking a look at Hagg’s advanced stats, it’s clear that he and Ghostisbehere are able to balance each other out. Hagg’s Corsi for percentage rel. is 0.76 percent while Gostisbehere’s is 4.94 percent, which is, for Gostisbehere, fifth on the team and first defensively if you take Travis Sanheim out of the equation. Having a higher Corsi for percentage rel. indicates that specific player is a play-driver on the team or will be more able to get chances offensively compared to the rest of the team. Gostisbehere is more willing to take risks and jump into the play offensively, while Hagg is more comfortable staying back, starting plays, and maybe absorbing a little more pressure. On Gostisbehere’s goal, Hagg absorbed the pressure by blocking a shot, then started the play by sending it to Gostisbehere who then promptly went down the other end and scored.
Taking Sanheim out of the equation again, Hagg is third on the defense in Corsi for percentage with 50.71 percent, behind Gostisbehere with 53.42 percent and Radko Gudas with 52.28 percent. Having a Corsi for percentage over 50.00 percent indicates that, when a player is on the ice, his team is controlling offensive possession more than the other team.
Both his Corsi for percentage rel. and Corsi for percentage are aided by Hagg taking 38 offensive zone faceoffs, the most of anyone on the team, but his stats nonetheless impress.
Robert Hagg has always been a player who will make smart plays with the puck. While he isn’t always the most flashy, he doesn’t need to be flashy to be effective. Even with all the other prospects that have come up in the past few seasons, Hagg provides some much-needed stability to not only Shayne Gostisbehere, but the Flyers as a whole.
And he’s only getting better. Said Hakstol, “What I like is he’s a worker, he shows up everyday and he works at his game.”
Originally published on GNGHockey.com