Will the real Philadelphia Flyers please stand up? The 2019-20 NHL season couldn’t begin soon enough. Hockey addicts across the Philadelphia region are pumped, and they can’t wait for the season to get started already. Remember the good old days of the Flyers being impatient? Those days are long gone…history, zip, zilch.
The new and improved Flyers organization now headed by General Manager Chuck Fletcher finally got rid of some waste this past offseason, and hopefully, the end result will be with a parade down Broad Street in a few years.
There are some players on the Flyers roster that have a lot to prove this coming season. If these players do not improve from last season, then the end result might be the Flyers missing the playoffs for the second straight season. So let us begin with Shayne Gostisbehere, AKA Ghost.
Ghost is a Veteran that hails from the great state of Florida. For three years Ghost attended a very good hockey college of Union College in Upstate New York, until he eventually he found himself playing for the Adirondack Phantoms in 2013-14, to which they became the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in 2014-15. Ghost quickly became an integral part of the Flyers Power Play in 2015-16, which was his first full season with the orange and black. For his rookie campaign, Ghost tallied 8 PP goals, as he owned a rocket from the point. Moreover, the way he is able to hold the puck in on the blue line while on the Flyers are on the man advantage, cannot be taken for granted either. Since his coming out party in 2015-16, Ghost has registered 21 PP goals, which includes the 2018-19 season, as well.
This young 25-year-old in Ghost was primed and ready for a big season last season. Unfortunately, it was anything but blissful, as he only registered 9 goals (4 PP goals), and 28 assists for a total of 37 points in 78 games played. These numbers are way down from the career year that he set in 2017-18 when he finished 10th in the league in the Norris Trophy Voting (Awarded to the Best Defenseman). For the 2017-18 season, Ghost tallied 13 goals (7 PP goals) and registered 52 assists in 78 games played.
To put last season into perspective, Ghost’s production in 2018-19 was nearly half of what he produced in 2017-18. To make matters worse, he was placed on the 2nd PP at times last season, and Ghost just wanted to get better, “I mean I was definitely on the ice for a lot of goals against…I’m not happy about that,” Ghost said at the end of last season.
The Professional in Ghost continued at the exit interviews, “I’m not an excuse guy. I mean I didn’t have the best season obviously, I felt I could’ve helped my teammates a lot more and it’s a grind, it was a mental grind this year. I think A lot of us grew not only on the ice but mentally as well.”
Of course, the Flyers need a player like Ghost to rebound this season. There is no denying that Ghost’s reduced production last season didn’t hurt the club, because it absolutely did. It hurt with the man advantage, and it also hurt while transitioning out of the Defensive Zone to the Offensive Zone.
There is no doubt in my mind that Ghost can rebound in a big way this coming season, and with that, the Flyers can right the ship. Ghost has always been a man of his word. When he says that he and the Flyers will better this season, then they will be better. The good news is that Ghost has been currently training at the Skate Zone in Voorhees since the season concluded.
Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
