Robert Hagg and Shayne Gostisbehere: A Flyers Feud or A Matter of Fit?

The Hagg Faction and Their Arguments

First, “faction” might be too strong a word. Hagg certainly has not inspired the loyalty or the strong positive feelings that Gostisbehere has. On the contrary, he seems to draw a lot of vitriol, largely by the same people who display blind loyalty to Gostisbehere. Hagg’s “supporters” see him as a better alternative for the team, not necessarily a more skilled player. The Flyers seem to play better with Hagg in the lineup.

Hagg does not fill up the score sheet, though he did collect more points than Gostisbehere this past season and he provides a solid physical and defensive presence. He hits the opposition often and is quite good at jarring the puck loose.  While not a shutdown defender Hagg is competent, competes hard, and is willing to stick up for teammates and block shots.  Hagg is not immune from the occasional break down in coverage, but no more prone than most of the other players. It should be pointed out that Gostisbehere is less prone than Hagg to mental mistakes during defensive coverage.

Hagg detractors may argue that hits don’t matter, though the Islanders forechecking the playoffs would seem to indicate otherwise. While we can question the effectiveness of a hit, it does support the notion that Hagg is physical. This is generally considered a positive element in a collision sport.

Hagg is also a prolific shot blocker. Again, this is not a cut and dry positive.  Much like Corsi, the location and how the shot is blocked is more important than the stat. There is a huge difference between closing down the shooter as he shoots versus waving a stick at an inbound shot that may end up being more of an unwanted deflection rather than a block. In the case of Hagg, he is typically right on the shooter at point of shot genesis, which is a good thing.

The Comparison

What may be happening is a contrast in style.  Form over flash, style over substance.  The Ghost fanatics are certain that Hagg stinks and immediately go to Corsi as evidence and think that is the end of the argument.  The Flyers outshot their opponent when Ghost is on the ice. The Flyers don’t when Hagg (44.5% career Corsi percentage) is on the ice.  I don’t think any fan would be unhappy if Hagg’s Corsi number looked more like Gostisbehere’s.

Unfortunately for Ghost, shots don’t win games, goals do. If you look at +/- or even-strength goal differential, Hagg dominates.  Over Hagg’s career, he is a plus 16, forty-five to the good when compared to Ghost’s career of -29.  If Ghost was a net plus player over his career Ghost’s supporters would certainly be pleased, despite their cries now that +/- is too random and does not matter.  If Ghost was a plus 16 over his career there would not be a discussion, because it means the Flyers outscore their opponents when Ghost is on the ice, which helps win games.

The argument comes down to the solid, but the unspectacular play of Hagg against elite powerplay presence and uneven five on five play of Gostisbehere.  The caveat is that he can be a force if he has the right partner, like Andrew MacDonald. Given the Flyers’ cap circumstance, it looks like his partner will need to come from within the organization.

It can be further surmised that if the Flyers had the optimal partner for Gostisbehere in their system, they would have already used him.  With no significant roster changes foreseen, and a suitable partner for Gostisbehere still not yet found, we can expect to see both him and Hagg perform at about the same level we saw last year.