GDT: #6: Stars at FLYERS, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019, 7:00 pm ET

[Striiker]

People have short memories around here. 2017-2018 wasn't that long ago.... definitely not long enough to forget.

The guy played at an elite level and his skating is no different now than it was then.

 

[marcsson68]

I think there is a bigger chance he is put on Waivers within the next couple of weeks than him actually playing games in the NHL.
As long as they are not even rotating him into one of the regular pairings during practice, as long as everyone else stays healthy, I just don't see it.

Well, looking at the small sample piece of this season, Justin Braun has aguably been our worst D-man. Looking shaky against Chicago, running over Elliott after a weak clearing attempt of his own in Calgary, being embarassed by Mc David in Edmonton. Standing at -5 and not simply due to bad luck. Robert Hägg´s +1 might include some luck and this luck won´t last forever (he in fact hasn´t been on ice during any goal against yet), but I don´t think he will just like that sit for Morin.
Hägg is no Corsi favourite. He gets defensive zone starts, does some PK and blocks shots. As long as he keeps it simple, doesn´t ice the puck too often and keeps from producing too many stupid turnovers, he won´t be replaced anytime soon. At least not as long as others are subject of concern as well.

No need to worry though for anyone: We all know that injuries and suspensions do occur. Morin and / or Myers will get their chance to prove themselves worthy.

 

[Curufinwe]

FWIW, he does look "slower" since the regular season started. He had a lot more jump in preseason. Of course we all know the reason for that...Hagg is a Deatheater and sucks the lifeforce out of every single ****ing partner he's ever had.

Him and Braun were easily the most consistent preseason pairing.

In the regular season Sanheim-Niskanen is the best one so far.

 

[Ghosts Beer]

I’m not a Corsi fan, but there are a lot of people here who ostensibly use it as a player rating system.

If you’re one of those people, & criticizing Braun, I’ll point out that he’s 2nd among team D with a 59% CF% despite the 2nd most defensive zone starts. And has a 62.93 xGF%.

 

[FLYguy3911]

Hägg is no Corsi favourite. He gets defensive zone starts, does some PK and blocks shots. As long as he keeps it simple, doesn´t ice the puck too often and keeps from producing too many stupid turnovers, he won´t be replaced anytime soon. At least not as long as others are subject of concern as well.

Hagg is actually second on the team in OZ faceoff percentage. Same shitty results. So much for that theory that went on and on and on...

 

[Curufinwe]

Meltzer says Bunnaman may go down today and be replaced by Rubtsov or Vorobyev.

 

[marcsson68]

Hagg is actually second on the team in OZ faceoff percentage. Same ****ty results. So much for that theory that went on and on and on...

From what I saw it is around 41% oz starts (Flyers career total). But actually that doesn’t matter too much in this context.

Just curious what people would write here if Hägg had made Braun‘s mistakes. Wouldn’t they demand him to sit for Morin?

As stated before I am more than ready to agree that Hägg is the least talented d-man of our pairings. He will be in danger if he gets into a slump. But as long as others perform worse and he remains a reliable shot-blocking, penalty killing defender there is little reason to sit him and not e.g. Braun for Morin.

 

[Rebels57]

Meltzer says Bunnaman may go down today and be replaced by Rubtsov or Vorobyev.

Just to further elaborate, he said it was based on his own hunch not on any source. Would make sense though.

 

[FLYguy3911]

From what I saw it is around 41% oz starts (Flyers career total). But actually that doesn’t matter too much in this context.

Just curious what people would write here if Hägg had made Braun‘s mistakes. Wouldn’t they demand him to sit for Morin?

As stated before I am more than ready to agree that Hägg is the least talented d-man of our pairings. He will be in danger if he gets into a slump. But as long as others perform worse and he remains a reliable shot-blocking, penalty killing defender there is little reason to sit him and not e.g. Braun for Morin.

Braun isn't good. Isn't it a good thing that people realize Hagg has not made many egregious mistakes, but still recognize he holds the team back, even in his reduced role and that they aren't just holding onto little individual mistakes he makes (like say from a certain PP specialist)? Defensemen should not be judged by how many mistakes they make. It should always be about net impact. He's just not good. Most reasonable people recognize this.

The Flyers are always going to get caved in in the shot department when Hagg is on the ice. That's not changing. Five games in, the best case scenario, team wise, is playing out with him on the ice. Nothing has happened. Given the prior two seasons, it's inevitable that the bubble will burst at some point, especially when he's not getting propped up by Couturier as much. I'd rather not wait for that to happen.

Hagg is the 5th option on the PK and is averaging less than a minute per game. They aren't losing anything there if he is gone. You're also forgetting there's a guy in LHV just wasting away his ELC. Actually there might be more than one. This isn't strictly Morin vs. Hagg.

 

[bennysflyers16]

Just to further elaborate, he said it was based on his own hunch not on any source. Would make sense though.

Hope its Ruby !

 

[marcsson68]

You're also forgetting there's a guy in LHV just wasting away his ELC. Actually there might be more than one. This isn't strictly Morin vs. Hagg.

Yes, but Morin vs. Hägg was what I was referring to because someone brought that up.

 

[Curufinwe]

Morin-Ghost would be a much more fun pairing to watch.

 

[FLYguy3911]

Yes, but Morin vs. Hägg was what I was referring to because someone brought that up.

If we know Hagg is not good, what is the harm in seeing what another bottom of the lineup player could do? Could Morin really be worse? More mistake prone? Maybe, but more mistakes does not automatically equal worse results. And vice versa.

 

[marcsson68]

Braun isn't good. Isn't it a good thing that people realize Hagg has not made many egregious mistakes, but still recognize he holds the team back, even in his reduced role and that they aren't just holding onto little individual mistakes he makes ... He's just not good. Most reasonable people recognize this.

I never said he was good. Instead I always thought he is sth like a 6th/7th defenseman. It would be fine for me if they gave Morin a chance instead of him or Braun.

At the same time it is wrong that people always point at Hägg as a scapegoat when in fact he has been ok, but players of the „fan favourite“ type have messed it up.

We lost in Calgary because our best players sucked. But of course the usual suspect Hägg was mentioned in many post game comments.

We lost in Edmonton because Hart **it his pants and we didn’t bring all the glorious chances home. But here we go with the usual Hägg bashing.

As a playmaking d-man, would I be happy to be chained to a limited one-dimensional player? Maybe not. But really, that scapegoating goes far too far.

 

[Curufinwe]

Playing the least skilled dman on the roster on his off side is one approach.

Let's try a different one.

 

[Rebels57]

If we know Hagg is not good, what is the harm in seeing what another bottom of the lineup player could do? Could Morin really be worse? More mistake prone? Maybe, but more mistakes does not automatically equal worse results. And vice versa.

They think Hagg is good though. The same issue that kept him in the lineup over Sanheim is now keeping him there over Myers and Morin. The coachs think he brings value. It's very unfortunate. Maybe when his PDO bubble bursts again and GA pile up, he may get benched.

 

[Rebels57]

Playing the least skilled dman on the roster on his off side is one approach.

Let's try a different one.

Of all dmen on the team to use on their off side, Hagg is the last one that should. Ghost has proven to be great on his off side. What do I know though.

 

[FLYguy3911]

I never said he was good. Instead I always thought he is sth like a 6th/7th defenseman. It would be fine for me if they gave Morin a chance instead of him or Braun.

At the same time it is wrong that people always point at Hägg as a scapegoat when in fact he has been ok, but players of the „fan favourite“ type have messed it up.

We lost in Calgary because our best players sucked. But of course the usual suspect Hägg was mentioned in many post game comments.

We lost in Edmonton because Hart **it his pants and we didn’t bring all the glorious chances home. But here we go with the usual Hägg bashing.

As a playmaking d-man, would I be happy to be chained to a limited one-dimensional player? Maybe not. But really, that scapegoating goes far too far.

But Hagg hasn't been "OK". Maybe by his standards he has and fewer noticeable mistakes help with the narrative, but you cannot have a player that gives up the shot share as much as he does when he's on the ice and be "OK".

I don't think people blame those losses on Hagg directly. More so it's a place to vent that he's not good and that he's not part of the solution moving forward.

Skill players play best with other skill players. You don't play Jake Voracek with Tyler Pitlick and wonder why Jake isn't producing.

 

[MacDonald4MVP]

Meltzer says Bunnaman may go down today and be replaced by Rubtsov or Vorobyev.

Please let it be Rubtsov, otherwise with Frost and Patrick getting closer he won't get a chance.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Meltzer says Bunnaman may go down today and be replaced by Rubtsov or Vorobyev.

I f***ing hope he is. I really liked what I saw from Rubtsov in the pre-season and he's done well this season while being down too. I would love it to be Farabee, but still, this is a good one.

 

[TheKingPin]

Meltzer says Bunnaman may go down today and be replaced by Rubtsov or Vorobyev.

Has to be Ruby. How has he looked? Amazing that they have players make this team for a few days based off training camp.

 

[deadhead]

The problem isn't Hagg, it's Myers screwing up and Morin simply isn't that good - AV has watched him for a month and plays Hagg over him.
Hagg is 5 months older, so it's not age and experience that made that decision.

Hagg is your basic #6/#7 D-man, playing #6 minutes, that simply isn't a problem.
And he's playing better this year with a mobile puck mover next to him, who would have thought?
Nor does he hurt Ghost, Ghost isn't that good without the puck, he needs to handle the puck on a regular basis to be effective. And Hagg defers to him.

Sure, I'd like to see Myers get his act together and bench Hagg, but that's up to Myers, he was given the job and blew it.

 

[TheKingPin]

If we know Hagg is not good, what is the harm in seeing what another bottom of the lineup player could do? Could Morin really be worse? More mistake prone? Maybe, but more mistakes does not automatically equal worse results. And vice versa.

Plus Morin deserves it. And he has to be the hungriest player we have (literally and figuratively). I want those kinds of players on my team.

What’s that saying about hungry dogs running??

 

[deadhead]

Has to be Ruby. How has he looked? Amazing that they have players make this team for a few days based off training camp.

What's amazing? As Fletcher said, roster spots aren't set in stone.
To start the season, they brought along the two young players who were the most physical in camp for a long road trip.
Now that it's obvious that neither Raffl or Bunnaman can play center, and Patrick is probably weeks away, bringing up a true center makes sense.

Rubtsov is better than Vorobyev, but Vorobyev has more experience. Tough call.

 

[ponder719]

Just to further elaborate, he said it was based on his own hunch not on any source. Would make sense though.

His hunch is pretty solid.