With the unexpected early retirement of the Flyers’ top-pairing defenseman Matt Niskanen after the completion of last year’s playoffs (a year before his contract was due to expire), the Flyers found themselves with quite the dilemma: Who could replace the Stanley Cup-winning veteran who was also a leader in the locker room?
At the start of the season, Philadelphia tried the recently re-signed veteran defenseman Justin Braun alongside the team’s clutch blue-liner Ivan Provorov on the first pairing, but Braun’s feet could not keep up with his veteran experience (nor the rest of the Eastern Conference’s best players for that matter). This is something that Ivan must face on a nightly basis. Then, it was left up to the young Travis Sanheim to try his hand on the 1st pairing, and although he proved to be more swift, the 6’5 left-hand-shot defenseman looked so awkward; getting his limbs all tangled up trying to make a play on the puck on his off-side. So, Travis was then returned to the 2nd pairing- and thus back to his natural side of the ice.
But just when the Flyers’ defense looked to have one foot in the grave, some unexplained paranormal activity began to happen again within the Wells Fargo Center- an apparition of a once-beloved player, a fan favorite (if you will) whose talents were thought to be long gone given his extensive injury history: Shayne Gostisbehere A.K.A. “Ghost”.
This welcomed resurgence of Ghost’s abilities could not have come at a better time for the team either, with Shayne seamlessly stepping into the role that was left vacant with Niskanen’s unexpected early departure. His presence brought not only some stability to the first defensive pairing but some familiarity as well, seeing that Provorov and Gostisbehere played alongside each other in years past.
Is this the ideal long-term solution that will prove to solve all the Flyers’ problems on defense? Absolutely not, but it may just be their best option for the time being. Ghost may not ever return to the 65-point player he was back in the ‘17- ‘18 season, but he at least seems to have returned in the form of an intelligent haunting! Ghost looks to have finally bought into head coach Alain Vigneault’s system. He is, for the first time in his career, playing a defensively responsible 200ft game. Shayne now gets back defensively even when he chooss to jump up into the offensive play. Additionally, Gostisbehere’s skating is now reminiscent of when he made his first NHL appearance, which now helps him to chase down the opposition when he creates costly turnovers- Something that he has never shown the willingness to do in years past. All of this may seem only possible by Ghost bringing back some kind of trick or magic from beyond the grave (the place where his career seemed to be heading), but actually it’s because for the first time in a long time Gostisbehere is finally healthy!
Without the help of this revitalized defenseman, the team would certainly not be where they find themselves today in the standings. Yes, they are still blowing leads late in games but for once it is not because of a costly turnovers made by Ghost. Rather, his ability to play a defensively solid 20-21 minutes a night recently- while still managing to be a plus player- is refreshing; not to mention that it surely has helped to solidify his spot on the top pairing for now. Let us just hope that this current apparition (or Ghost) does not fade away into the darkness any time soon, but instead stays around as a reoccurring haunting along the Flyers’ blue line!
