Hagg’s postseason was much like what we’ve typically seen from the Flyers defenseman.
When the Flyers stopped play in the regular season on March 10, Robert Hagg found himself in a familiar position, in the middle of a controversy, fighting off a challenge for his spot in the lineup. Both he and Shayne Gostisbehere were in the lineup that night, a 2 – 0 loss to the Bruins, and the talking heads were starting to chirp. Covid gave us a nice reprieve from the Ghost-Hagg debate for a while.
Once the playoffs began, Hagg again found his roster spot in jeopardy. In the end the staff would choose Hagg, who played in 12 of the Flyers’ 16 playoff games. Hagg would play the same physical and safe game that we have become accustom to. He would have a +1 goal differential at even strength and finish with three points, all secondary assists.
Like we saw in the regular season, Hagg’s advanced metrics were not kind. He would finish last amongst the Flyers’ defensemen in corsi percentage at 45.31 %. Hagg usually finishes behind his team mates in this category, but the separation between he and the leader, Phil Myers, was only about 4%. That is a not a huge distance as both Vegas and Tampa Bay had a 6% margin between their top rated corsi and their bottom. Vancover had a 14% variance.
Hagg may have been in the low end of the pack, but he was still part of the pack, unlike teams where there was a clear and game defining drop off. Hagg played a bit part on special teams. He racked up 28 seconds of powerplay time recording no points with the Flyers scoring no goals while he was on the ice.
He would also spend 8:16 shorthanded, recording no points, and where the Flyers did not concede a goal. There was not much work, so not much to say about Hagg’s special team efforts.
Hagg’s playoff mimicked much of his career. He was adequate and did a good job as a bottom six defender. While numbers were not stellar, they were not abysmal either. If there was one obvious positive from Hagg, it was his willingness to step in to help team mates when things got nasty. In truth there was not much snarl in either series, but when there was, Hagg was game to play the role of protector.
Hagg did not do much to tilt games to the Flyers favor, that is not highly complimentary. But he was also not overwhelmed or regularly exploited by the opposition, which is a good thing to say about any bottom pair. He was not a factor on special teams and his even strength minutes worked out in the end as a draw.
Whatever negatives Hagg’s detractors may pick out from his performance, everyone can agree that Hagg’s play was far from the deciding factor on the Flyers’ elimination.