The Philadelphia Flyers have re-signed defenceman Robert Hagg to a contract extension. The deal carries an average annual value of $1.6 million for the next two seasons. This is the third signing the team has made in the past several weeks after contracts for Alex Lyon and Nicolas Aube-Kubel were signed earlier this month. The team announced the Hagg deal Monday morning.
Now you're gonna get a new deal, Bobby! https://t.co/K7VX6oi6xx
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) September 28, 2020
Flyers Sign Robert Hagg
Hagg was an important physical player for the Flyers in 2019–20. He only scored three goals and 13 points in 49 games but most of his value comes on defence. That is where Hagg posted 79 blocks and a team-high 136 hits. Physical counting stats are not often a good indicator of a player’s defence but they do reflect his usage. Hagg started in the defensive zone over 50 percent of the time and almost all of his special teams play came on the penalty-killing unit.
The Flyers originally drafted Hagg in the second round of the 2013 Draft. He debuted in 2016–17 but didn’t play in a full season until the following campaign. His best year was 2018–19 when he scored a career-high five goals and 20 points in 82 games with 258 hits and 158 blocks. Overall, he has 11 goals and 42 points in 202 NHL games.
What This Means for the Future
Hagg is still early enough in his career that he could take a step forward and be a consistent 20–25 point defender. The Flyers’ blue line was deep in 2019–20 which made Hagg the sixth or seventh defender depending on the situation. That prevented him from exceeding his raw scoring totals but he still had a fine year given the team’s defensive rotations.
The Flyers are far from done with its offseason plans. There are several players they could choose to re-sign if they wish. The most obvious candidate for a new deal would be goalie Brian Elliott but defender Justin Braun and forward Tyler Pitlick were productive players as well that are about to be unrestricted free agents. Philadelphia has roughly $6.2 million in remaining space until further moves are made.
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