Shayne Gostisbehere was already traded before the offseason began, until the news broke that Matt Niskanen was retiring from the sport of hockey. Now Ghost figures to have a permanent spot in the lineup at the moment, and he might even see time on the Power Play, according to what Flyers’ General Manager Chuck Fletcher said a few weeks ago.
Regardless, of what some Flyers fans think of Ghost at the moment. Fletcher still believes in Ghost, and he said a few weeks ago that after watching Ghost play in the playoffs. It was the healthiest/best he’s seen Ghost play since he became the General Manager of the Flyers organization.
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Yesterday Chuck Fletcher had high praise for Ghost once again as he stated:
“Shayne’s only 27. Absolutely he can have a bigger role.”- Chuck Fletcher
Fletcher has belief in Ghost. He believes he might be able to get back to form of being a top 4 Defenseman if he is placed into that spot this season. This is all unreal, as he just appeared on the outs of the Flyers organization by many, to include myself at times this offseason. Hopefully, Fletcher’s confidence in Ghost rubs off on Ghost and he comes back better than ever in 2020-21.
Nolan Patrick
It’s no secret to anyone that Patrick has been scrimmaging and skating in Brandon. Fletcher indicated this yesterday, but there is video evidence below from last week’s scrimmage that Patrick participated in:
Anytime Patrick hits the ice it’s a good thing. It means he’s feeling better, and he hasn’t had a setback. Fletcher said yesterday, ad Fletcher has stated a few weeks ago that Patrick is feeling better, and continues to make progress. Fletcher even stated:
“We’re pretty deep up front, strong down the middle even, provided Nolan is able to come back and play.”- Chuck Fletcher
Fletcher has remained optimistic of Patrick’s return, but this really sounds even more likely that Patrick will indeed return in 2020-21. The only question that remains is when, and unfortunately that cannot be answered until he properly screened by Flyers doctors at Training Camp.
Either way it appears that Fletcher has one position on his radar to plug, and that is on the defensive side of the puck with the void left from Niskanen’s retirement. Again to me this is a positive for a Patrick return.
Certainly hoping so. It would be great for those two fine young men to bounce back from injury and play to their impressive potential. And would huge boost for the Flyers and their hockey fans
You could see in the playoffs that Niskanen was wearing down quickly. He probably realized it himself thus the retirement. Cliff Fletcher had to have known it was coming. Sooner or later Provorov should be considered that number one defenseman who doesn’t need the grizzled veteran to play with anymore, instead be the number one defenseman who helps his defensive partner by his status as a number one defenseman. If that is the case Myers would be a perfect fit and Ghost could play second pair with Sanheim or Ghost could play first defense with Provorov.
Agree mostly with Buzz…just crossing my fingers Meyers is ready for that role
Myers is more than ready to partner Provorov in our first defense-pairing! But i think we are better off without Ghost in our top- four, and thus we need someone to properly replace Niskanen,, because our third pairing should be physical with Hägg and Braun in it! So if we can get Sami Vatanen to sign pretty cheap 1 year deal, i would be happy! Otherwise Mark Friedman is our currently best option to partner Sanheim in second pairing! So we should try to trade Ghost, and go after Alex Pietrangelo!
Stay put with what we got and make a move at the trade deadline for something we really need at that time!
Ghost and Sanheim to jets for Laine and 1st pick then sign peterangelo zamula or moron should be fine to pick up the slack