Shayne Gostisbehere Was Named 'Philadelphia Pro Athlete of the Year' Aaaaaaaand He's A Healthy Scratch Tonight
Philly.com – Shayne Gostisbehere, the speedy Flyers defenseman who finished second in the NHL’s rookie-of-the-year voting last season, has been named the Philadelphia Pro Athlete of the Year by the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association.
The player they call “Ghost” will be among the many honorees at the 113th annual banquet at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill on Feb. 3.
Cool, cool. Everybody who knows me knows that I love Ghost. Think he’s great. Would love to be his best friend. Is it necessarily a great sign for how the year in Philly sports went if a rookie defenseman on a team that didn’t win a playoff series is your Athlete of the Year? Maybe not so much. But it’s still a great honor nonetheless for a kid who is going to be an ENORMOUS figure in Philly sports. End the blog now, right?
Wrong.
Now listen. We may never know the way that Dave Hakstol functions. For a guy who seems to understand the game and the way in which it’s trending so much, he has made some highly questionable roster decisions lately. In regards to how he plays the goalies, the amount that he plays Andrew MacDonald and Chris VandeVelde. And the fact that rarely does he ever use two of his most offensively gifted players in Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov in 3-on-3 overtime. I get that they’re rookies and you don’t want to set them up for failure but c’mon, give the kids a chance.
Anyway, this is the newest move that is setting Flyers twitter ablaze. And while most of the outrage is fully justified, let’s at least try to spin zone this one a little. For starters, did you read my blog from earlier this morning? Pretty much everybody in the NHL is dying. Johnny Gaudreau just got surgery on his hand. Taylor Hall is out for 3-4 weeks. And that Stamkos injury? Yeah, it looks like he’ll be sidelined for at least 4 months. Star caliber players are dropping like flies so I have no issue with Dave Hakstol giving Ghost another night to rest just to be on the safe side.
Also–maybe Hakstol made a deal with the Jets for tonight. Maybe he told them that he’d take Ghost out of the lineup as long as Patrik Laine promises to only score 2 goals tonight? Is this a highly likely scenario? I’m not so sure. But it’s at least a possibility.
Finally–sometimes you gotta knock a man down a peg or two in order to build him back up. As mentioned above, Ghost was named the Philadelphia Pro Athlete of the Year. The kid hasn’t even played a full season in the NHL yet and he’s the best pro athlete our city has? Well I’m not going to disagree with that but you can’t let it go to his head. This is pretty much Hakstol’s way of whipping out his dad dick and reminding Ghost of who’s in charge. Can’t hate on that.