UPDATE: The Flyers have now confirmed the extension with Hagg.
The Philadelphia Flyers have signed their final restricted free agent, agreeing to an extension with defenseman Robert Hagg. TVA’s Renaud Lavoie was the first to report that the two sides have come to terms on a two-year, $2.3MM contract. CapFriendly adds that Hagg will make $1MM this year and $1.3MM next year, with a cap hit of $1.15MM. The 2013 second-rounder will again be a restricted free agent at the end of this deal.
This is a very team-friendly conclusion to lengthy negotiations between the Flyers and Hagg. Although Hagg was a rookie last season, the 22-year-old showed positioning and composure of a much older, more experienced blue liner. Hagg led all rookies with 238 hits, a mark that was also tied for seventh-best among all players. He also did so with just 32 penalty minutes on the year. Additionally, Hagg led all rookies in blocked shots. He stepped into a top-four role with the Flyers without any difficulty and showed the potential to be a dominant shutdown defender.
As such, many expected that the Flyers would jump into an expensive, long-term deal for the young rearguard. Instead, the played it safe, taking a short term and very comfortable salary instead of trying to figure out long-term value. Philadelphia has a plethora of talented young defenseman, including Ivan Provorov who will need an extension next summer, and were smart not to set a precedent that they all deserve massive extensions. The team will likely enjoy great value for Hagg over the next two years, after which they will have to pay him his due for a strong defensive game that few others his age possess.
Future looks bright. If Myers can make the team and pair with Sanheim that would help to solidly the 2nd pairing before Provo and Ghost. Andy Mac and Radko get out the way!, please
Provy and ghost shouldn’t be paired together whatsoever. You can’t put a speedy defender who focuses more on offense and terrible defense together with a (now) sophomore who made plenty of mistakes on one-on-one coverage.
As much as flyers fans hate it… McDonald and Provy are a good paring. Hägg with Ghost. And whoever you guys throw at the end (gudas/Sanhiem… apparently meyers if he makes it)
But sanhiem has been mostly underwhelming and Meyers is in the minors and the flyers have a great reputation for just stuffing him down there too long and then pairing him with the like of a replacement player and wonder why he’s doing terrible.
Good luck being 5-11th seed for the next 4-5 years.
So your not a Flyers fan as well than? All good, I like Hagger paired with Ghost but keeping Mac with Privy is pointless, he’ll be gone in a season from now. I’d rather see them establish pairings that can carry on for several seasons. Myers has been a steadying partner for Sanheim in the AHL, why I suggested it.
Still shouldn’t keep provy with ghost for the sake of “keeping chemistry” beyond this year if it’s not a good pairing. I’d imagine veteran presence would probably help more, especially when learning through mistakes, provy has a chance of being. Really good defender. It would suck if he gets overwhelmed and discouraged when he looks bad trying to cover for ghost too
Agreed.maybe they still haven’t found that long term partner for Provoro yet and maybe I’m biased saying this but I’m not sure anything/any player could rattle him. He looks like the real deal. If the end up unable to extend Simmer and deal him between now and the deadline, maybe Provy’s future partner comes aboard than.
Finding chemistry is important, but you don’t want to force chemistry just to get two defenders on the same pair. If they can complement each other well (splitting responsibilities and being aware enough to cover for each other’s mistakes) then sure, put them on the same pair. But for now its probably better to pair them with a partner that can help cover each other’s deficiencies. You also have to consider what role you want each one playing. If they envision Provorov as a potential lockdown defender with two-way ability, it makes more sense to pair him with another lock down defenseman than to pair him with an offensive defenseman.