Philadelphia Flyers: Has Shayne Gostisbehere Vanished?

After a stellar rookie season, Shayne Gostisbehere‘s sophomore campaign has been filled with ups and downs. Has the Ghost vanished?

The Calder Trophy runner-up, Shayne Gostisbehere, is having a tough sophomore season for the Philadelphia Flyers. Ghost has seen himself benched by Head Coach Dave Hakstol for the last three games. Gostisbehere could see himself benched for a fourth straight game.

The question on everone’s mind is why is Hakstol continuing to bench his best offensive defenseman? Here are a couple of reasons why:

1. His Defense has been Poor

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Now, poor may be an understatement. He simply has not been very good in the defensive zone. While defense was never his key attribute when he was making his way through the Philadelphia Flyers’ organization, he is still a defenseman.

Ghost is minus 19 on the season while averaging 19 minutes of ice time a night. Compared to his rookie season, he was plus 8 on the season.

That is a substantial difference between two seasons and plus/minus is a valuable stat when talking about defenseman.

Hakstol recently said in a Town Hall Meeting held for season ticket holders that benching Ghost gives him more time to practice. In a league like the NHL, practice time is hard to come by with such a compressed schedule.

Defenseman take longer to develop correctly than forwards and remember this only Ghost’s second year in the league. He needs all the practice he can get.

2. The Offense has been Lacking

It was always going to be hard to reproduce what Gostisbehere did last year offensively. We knew there was going to be a dip in his numbers, but his numbers are lower than most pundits thought.

The Philadelphia Flyers have been offensively challenged the whole year and while missing Gostisbehere hurts the potential for offense on a nightly basis, he hasn’t done anything to help the offensive output.

Currently, Ghost has four goals, 17 assists for 21 points. Compared to last year’s explosion of 17 goals, 29 assists for 46 points its staggering. Also, it is not for Ghost’s lack of trying, last year in 64 games he registered 152 shots on net and this year he has 114 shots in 68 games.

When he has scored this year it wasn’t on the powerplay. He only has a goal and 12 assists on the powerplay this year. Confidence is key to young players and it hasn’t been there for Gostisbehere.

Conclusion

Benching a player here and there for developmental purposes is understandable. Especially if the players confidence is shot. There are many times this year that Ghost has hesitated on a play or simply looked lost.

So Hakstol’s decision to bench him is not a bad one, however benching him for consecutive games is. There is only so much a player can learn from watching and do in practice until he has to play a game.

Next: Rookie Travis Konecny To Miss 4-6 Weeks

From a club standpoint, the Philadelphia Flyers are awful when it comes to scoring this year. Recently, by benching Ghost, their gameplan has been to generate enough defense to try and win the game. For the roster the Philadelphia Flyers have right now, that isn’t a viable option to win games.

Gostisbehere brings another potential dimension of scoring that can only help the Philadelphia Flyers. It is time to unleash the Ghost from his jail cell aka (the press box).

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