Philadelphia Flyers Players Who Could Regress In 2019-20

Focusing on the positive side of things is always fun, but not everything will go right for the Philadelphia Flyers this upcoming season.

Recently, we predicted who could breakout for the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2019-20 campaign. The additions of a new Head Coach in Alain Vigneault and assistants in Michel Therrien and Mike Yeo should bode well for some of the players on the roster, but not everyone will have the same success. Sadly, the Flyers will likely have guys who see a dip in their production from 2018-19 due to the previously mentioned new coaching, reduced roles, or simply being on a team. Since I enjoy pain and suffering as a Philadelphia sports fan/blogger, I’m going to look at a couple of potential candidates to regress for the Orange and Black next season.

Both players are somewhat obvious, and the first is none other than is Robert Hagg. Hagg could be moved once General Manager signs Restricted Free Agent Ivan Provorov to an extension since the Flyers will have eight defensemen under contract after the fact, but for now, I’ll include him since he’s still a member of the team at the moment. The Swedish D-Man posted 20 points (5 Goals, 15 Assists) in 82 games for the Flyers last year, which was an 11 point improvement from his rookie season. The uptake in offense was slightly surprising, but I don’t see him doing it again.

A lot of Hagg’s shots at 5-on-5 came from the point in 2018-19, indicating that they weren’t very dangerous in terms of testing the opposing goaltender. Sure, it sets up the chance for deflections in front of the crease and can even go in due to a screen, but I’d rather see a team try to work the puck into the slot over hoping a shot gets redirected into the net.

The 2013 Second Round pick was also used in a predominantly defensive role, which he didn’t excel in, either, making it harder for him to produce points during his time in the NHL. I don’t envision Vigneault using Hagg any differently, and with the possibility of him becoming the seventh defenseman, I think we’ll see him take a step back this next year.

The other candidate is the newly acquired Justin Braun. I’m not here to talk about what Braun brings to the ice offensively since he’s never really been a prolific scorer during his nine-year NHL tenure. Nothing should change in that regard, but defensively is where he could falter a bit. Playing with a guy like Shayne Gostisbehere or Travis Sanheim could give him more defensive responsibility than ever before.

Braun was mostly paired with Marc-Edouard Vlasic last year, who isn’t as offensively focused as Sanheim or especially Ghost, meaning Braun may have to bail one of them out more often than he’s used to if an aggressive pinch attempt goes wrong. The former San Jose Shark isn’t getting any younger at 32 years of age, too, and will turn 33 in February of 2020. Father Time is always undefeated, which could factor in to make Braun decline further with the Flyers.

Any and every player can deteriorate performance-wise at any given point so let’s hope that most of the Flyers can avoid regression in the forthcoming year.