GDT: #44| Thursday, Jan 12, 2017| Flyers vs. Canucks

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

I dont think Ghost has been horrible defensively this year, he has had more up and down games this year than his rookie year. I really think a lot of that has to do how teams are now attacking him in his own zone and in the offensive zone.
He just isnt getting the same looks as last year in the offensive zone. Could he better right now on both sides of the puck? obviously, but I just dont think he has been as bad as some make him out to be.
He set the bar so goddamn high last year many expected him to continue the upward trend. that just isnt going to happen. this is a tough league to score in. Especially on defense.
not sure why some of you continue to take the bait with a certain someone. just skip past the post and move on.

 

[Curufinwe]

I'll just post this so we're sure I'm not putting words in anyone's mouth.



Disagree with the last sentence 100%.

He certainly drives play (unless we have a different definition of "drives play") and his defense certainly isn't "horrid", not even close.

Driving play means putting up good shot attempt numbers which Ghost is definitely doing. It's nonsense to suggest otherwise.

 

[Curufinwe]

Jesus complete and utter Christ. The groan I just let out could have felled a building. If you aren't on mushrooms, I shudder to think what you are seeing. I mean, I have a pretty wild imagination, but yours is diabolical. One day it's Giroux, the next Couts, then Simmer can't skate, then Lube runs around like a headless chicken, every day it is this hallucination about Ghost. God almighty swinging damn, bro.

Don't forget Hartnell being a PP specialist.

 

[FLYguy3911]

https://gfycat.com/ImperfectShowyBaboon

When people say Ghost is horrible defensively I just look at a play like this that he completely shuts down the rush in the neutral zone. How many guys in the league can do that?

 

[Rebels57]

Driving play means putting up good shot attempt numbers which Ghost is definitely doing. It's nonsense to suggest otherwise.

Yeah he has the best Corsi among our defensemen

 

[FatTugboatFlahr]

https://gfycat.com/ImperfectShowyBaboon

When people say Ghost is horrible defensively I just look at a play like this that he completely shuts down the rush in the neutral zone. How many guys in the league can do that?

There's about 1000 more clips of him obliterating a rush at the blue line.

 

[Lindberg]

When someone writes "But he ain't" after a period I'm not going to put much into that stock, especially someone who has a media related career.

 

[deadhead]

Yeah he has the best Corsi among our defensemen

And 45% O-zone starts v 30% for the other D-men.
You should have the best Corsi under those circumstances.
But his GF/GA is awful, probably partially a fluke, but still disturbing.

Right now he's a one way player and Hakstol uses him as such.
He's not going to get bigger, but he can learn to get better at using leverage and being more careful, especially passing out of the D-zone, if I could do GIFs and had the time, I could put up a long string of really bad passes that led to good scoring chances.

It will also help him a lot to be paired with someone like Gudas or Morin who can do the dirty work in the D-zone, and stay away from MacDonald and Manning.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

And 45% O-zone starts v 30% for the other D-men.
You should have the best Corsi under those circumstances.
But his GF/GA is awful, probably partially a fluke, but still disturbing.

Right now he's a one way player and Hakstol uses him as such.
He's not going to get bigger, but he can learn to get better at using leverage and being more careful, especially passing out of the D-zone, if I could do GIFs and had the time, I could put up a long string of really bad passes that led to good scoring chances.

It will also help him a lot to be paired with someone like Gudas or Morin who can do the dirty work in the D-zone, and stay away from MacDonald and Manning.

 

[Myrtman]

https://gfycat.com/ImperfectShowyBaboon

When people say Ghost is horrible defensively I just look at a play like this that he completely shuts down the rush in the neutral zone. How many guys in the league can do that?

I said he had a Horrid night on Thursday, hence the scratch. He does make as I've stated a solid defensive play or two a game consistently because of his good stick skills. But to suggest he is a solid D zone defenseman overall is overvaluing analystics and not wanting to see the truth with your eyes. Also last year, before the book was out on him how many wow dangles did he perform at the O zone blue line? It was nightly. How many of those have you seen this year? Not many. The league adjusted to him. Question is, can he readjust to become a higher level and more consistent player. His season has been mediocre at best in my opinion. 2 healthy scratches is a lot for a team with this D core and especially on a player they don't want to scratch.

 

[Myrtman]

When someone writes "But he ain't" after a period I'm not going to put much into that stock, especially someone who has a media related career.

my opinion is invalid because I am
In the media? That may be the dumbest thing I have seen here. You are the type of person who is close Minded and think you have it all figured out. Opinions vary on players. Some are right. Some are wrong.

 

[Beef Invictus]

When someone writes "But he ain't" after a period I'm not going to put much into that stock, especially someone who has a media related career.

He's in radio


I'd prefer to see Ghost playing. He needs to learn. Repeated benchings lose value. There is only so much to learn watching someone inferior to you play.


I do wonder if something else is up though. Perhaps his knee is off, or something else; not enough to warrant saying he is injured, but to give him occasional rests. He strikes me as being less agile and explosive this year. It might also explain the plummet in shooting accuracy, which goes beyond a mere correction from last year's numbers.

 

[SuchySays]

Just because you bag groceries or work at a pumpkin patch doesn't mean you necessary know more than someone just because they happen to be a member of the media.

Look, there are a lot of idiots (especially the heavy hitters in the Flyers world) in the media but not everyone is.

 

[Striiker]

Just because you bag groceries or work at a pumpkin patch doesn't mean you necessary know more than someone just because they happen to be a member of the media.

Look, there are a lot of idiots (especially the heavy hitters in the Flyers world) in the media but not everyone is.

What if you work in a grocery store that only sells pumpkins from the pumpkin patch?

 

[Lindberg]

my opinion is invalid because I am
In the media? That may be the dumbest thing I have seen here. You are the type of person who is close Minded and think you have it all figured out. Opinions vary on players. Some are right. Some are wrong.

Try again. Writing "But he ain't" is terrible grammar and it hurts my eyes. I'm not trying to be a jerk about it (well maybe a little) but perhaps you should be more eloquent in the way you write given you have a media related job.

 

[Myrtman]

Try again. Writing "But he ain't" is terrible grammar and it hurts my eyes. I'm not trying to be a jerk about it (well maybe a little) but perhaps you should be more eloquent in the way you write given you have a media related job.

I'm not a writer. Never have been or will be. I am a radio guy. I've been in radio for 23 years. But in the interest of constructive criticism, your suggestion is duly noted. Cheers.

 

[Myrtman]

Just because you bag groceries or work at a pumpkin patch doesn't mean you necessary know more than someone just because they happen to be a member of the media.

Look, there are a lot of idiots (especially the heavy hitters in the Flyers world) in the media but not everyone is.

We agree on that. Your job doesn't make you an expert or always right. Opinions vary which is great. I see some things written or said about the team from the mainstream media or radio people and wonder if they watched the same Game I saw. Perhaps I saw it wrong. But I hear you.

 

[Lindberg]

I said he had a Horrid night on Thursday, hence the scratch. He does make as I've stated a solid defensive play or two a game consistently because of his good stick skills. But to suggest he is a solid D zone defenseman overall is overvaluing analystics and not wanting to see the truth with your eyes. Also last year, before the book was out on him how many wow dangles did he perform at the O zone blue line? It was nightly. How many of those have you seen this year? Not many. The league adjusted to him. Question is, can he readjust to become a higher level and more consistent player. His season has been mediocre at best in my opinion. 2 healthy scratches is a lot for a team with this D core and especially on a player they don't want to scratch.

It is obviously that he is getting scratched over players that deserve to be scratched. The expectations for him are much higher than others and probably rightfully so. I just don't see what has warranted his benching while Provorov has yet to be benched since the expectations for him are high as well. He's had some absolutely brutal turn overs and bad games but must play a game Hakstol likes more. The real question everyone should ask is Hakstol blind since he must be the most incompetent person if he believes Andrew MacDonald is solid in all three zones. Someone with balls should ask him how he is solid in all three zones if it means just giving the blue line away every time.

 

[FLYguy3911]

I said he had a Horrid night on Thursday, hence the scratch. He does make as I've stated a solid defensive play or two a game consistently because of his good stick skills. But to suggest he is a solid D zone defenseman overall is overvaluing analystics and not wanting to see the truth with your eyes. Also last year, before the book was out on him how many wow dangles did he perform at the O zone blue line? It was nightly. How many of those have you seen this year? Not many. The league adjusted to him. Question is, can he readjust to become a higher level and more consistent player. His season has been mediocre at best in my opinion. 2 healthy scratches is a lot for a team with this D core and especially on a player they don't want to scratch.

*Posts a clip of a good defensive play by Ghost, gets accused of not seeing "the truth" with my eyes*

That post wasn't directed at just you Jason. Plenty of people share the same opinion as you. There's more to defense than clearing the crease and blocking shots in the Dzone. Does his size limit him sometimes? Yes, but as I said above, how many guys are as active as him in the neutral zone? Not many. He shuts a lot of plays down in the neutral zone so that the other team never even gets possession of the puck in his zone. Hence the good shot metrics (with ****** partners no less). Unfortunately the few times a game the other team has the puck in his zone it's going in the net at a high rate. There's only one defenseman in the league with as many minutes as Ghost with a worse PDO- Jake Muzzin. Did the league figure him out too? It's just one of those years for him so far and everyone has to come up with their reasons why.

Blueline dangles? Every defender in the league still falls for that head fake and he can still walk the puck in the offensive zone at will even if he doesn't hit the blueline at high speeds. He doesn't do spin-o-ramas coming out of the DZone anymore. Are other teams taking that away from him or is it being coached out of him? I'll go with the latter.

 

[Lindberg]

I still want to see all this crease clearing non sense that people love to rant about. I rarely ever see anyone "cleared" out, seems like most of the time it is a stick battle or a cross check in the back where players fall down for a second or two.