ROBERT HÄGG - Defenseman - 24 - $1.15MM Cap Hit - RFA in 2020-2021
LAST UPDATED 8/20/19
Robert Hägg is a difficult player to get a read on. He had over 258 hits last season, and is one of the league's most ferocious physical defensemen. Presumably, that should have value, right? A defenseman who intimidates opponents and can rattle off big hits to take away pucks and derail offensive rushes should be valuable? Yet Hägg's isolated impact metrics are incredibly low on his defense, measuring him as a pretty major liability on 5v5 defense and on the penalty kill. So what gives? I think that it's an example of misunderstanding the value of a hit. In a vacuum, a hit is a valuable defensive action. It damages an opponent's ability to do something with the puck and imposes your team's physical presence. But the NHL does not exist in a vacuum, so the value of Hägg's ability to generate hits is more murky. On tape, I often see Hägg neglecting sound defensive positioning in order to make the most physical play possible. He's far more willing to try to outmuscle his opponent for a puck rather than, say, use his stick to steal the puck. That "muscle above all" approach may have worked at lower levels where he could physically dominate weaker opponents, but it doesn't work nearly as well in the NHL, and Hägg will need to develop some nuance in his game. I think he has a decent base as a physical #7/8, but he will need to evolve his game to stick at the NHL level.
Robert Hägg is a difficult player to get a read on. He had over 258 hits last season, and is one of the league's most ferocious physical defensemen. Presumably, that should have value, right? A defenseman who intimidates opponents and can rattle off big hits to take away pucks and derail offensive rushes should be valuable? Yet Hägg's isolated impact metrics are incredibly low on his defense, measuring him as a pretty major liability on 5v5 defense and on the penalty kill. So what gives? I think that it's an example of misunderstanding the value of a hit. In a vacuum, a hit is a valuable defensive action. It damages an opponent's ability to do something with the puck and imposes your team's physical presence. But the NHL does not exist in a vacuum, so the value of Hägg's ability to generate hits is more murky. On tape, I often see Hägg neglecting sound defensive positioning in order to make the most physical play possible. He's far more willing to try to outmuscle his opponent for a puck rather than, say, use his stick to steal the puck. That "muscle above all" approach may have worked at lower levels where he could physically dominate weaker opponents, but it doesn't work nearly as well in the NHL, and Hägg will need to develop some nuance in his game. I think he has a decent base as a physical #7/8, but he will need to evolve his game to stick at the NHL level.
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