Flyers Trading Shayne Gostisbehere Would Be a Mistake
First, let me be on the record saying that I would be okay if the Flyers dealt Shayne Gostisbehere for Connor McDavid.
I know I’m being really brave for saying this but I would be alright with the team trading the greatest defenseman in Flyers history for some scrub who plays for the Edmonton Oilers.
Now all jokes aside, the Ghost for McDavid trade is one that I’ve seen probably over 100 times over the past couple of years on the deep dark depths of Flyers Twitter. Of those Tweets, probably 97% of those people are joking but there’s a 3% who actually believes this could happen. I believe that a portion of the fanbase on the trade Ghost bandwagon that believes the league as a whole still views Ghost as 50+ points per season defenseman and has basically not paid any attention to him or the Flyers since the 2017-18 season.
Photo: The Philadelphia Inquirer
Now, I wouldn’t complain if the league actually still viewed him as the old Ghost who had almost every Flyers fan describing one of the team’s best players with two emojis ? ?. Unfortunately, I don’t believe NHL GMs are as dumb as some fans would like to believe. The current trade market for NHL defensemen isn’t great, as Nate Schmidt got traded from the Vegas Golden Knight to the Vancouver Canucks for a 2022 3rd-round pick. Schmidt doesn’t have the offensive upside potential of Ghost but he’s arguably been more consistent in the past two seasons. There is some context with the Schmidt trade as the Golden Knights didn’t have a ton of leverage as they were in a cap crunch trying to clear the cap to win the Alex Pietrangelo sweepstakes. However, I would be furious if the Flyers dealt Ghost for a 3rd-round pick because I believe that Ghost still has a couple more 50+ point seasons in the tank. It’s also possible that Ghost could get dealt for a player, though I would think he probably would have already been dealt if there was an offer from a team that would trade any impact player for him.
I am a big believer in draft picks and always filling your prospect pool with potential impact players in the future but a 3rd round pick is useless to the Flyers now unless they view Ghost poorly enough that they want to clear his contract from the books. I am aware that Patrick Roy and Mark Messier were selected in the 3rd round but I can find more examples of Corban Knight and Andrew MacDonald type players going in the 3rd round than Hall of Famers.
Yes, they could possibly just take the pick(s) and then just deal them for assets that contribute now but I feel like that wouldn’t probably happen. There’s also a fear that Ghost might get scooped by Seattle in the 2021 NHL expansion draft if he is left unprotected by the Flyers because the only other players of note that would be unprotected would be Voráček and JVR.
There’s a consensus belief that the Flyers are legitimate contenders to lift the Stanley Cup in 2021, and I would much rather have the potential upside of Ghost than a 3rd-round pick or a couple of mid-round picks especially since I don’t think the Flyers would make a big move with the free cap space from dealing Ghost for a pick.
You can call me silly or naïve but I actually am in the belief that Ghost will get back to a form that resembles his 2017-18 form. I could throw out some advanced stats to help my case for keeping Ghost but some stats would argue the other side too. But ultimately, I don’t believe that Ghost has been completely healthy for the past couple of seasons and that’s what I think has held him back. A full NHL regular season is brutal and by the end of the season, basically, no one is completely healthy so if you’re not completely healthy entering the season then you can’t reasonably expect to be completely healthy by the end.
A couple of weeks ago there were somewhat hopeful comments by Chuck Fletcher about Ghost, he said that “I don’t think physically he was at the level he wanted to be at until the end. Shayne’s 27 years old. There’s not many 27 year-olds that’s been in the league that has had 60-point seasons”. He also said that “I know physically he feels this is the best he’s been in a couple of years. I know he’s looking forward to showing everybody he can get back to the player he was a few seasons ago”.
These comments were made before the 2020 NHL draft, where the Flyers were most likely trying to potentially trade Ghost so you’re not going to trash someone you’re looking to get the most value possible from. But my glass-half-full outlook on life believes that is Ghost actually feeling the best he has in a while, and can play well enough to get consistent minutes.
Assuming he is actually still on the roster to start the season, my biggest “hot-take” for the 2020-21 Flyers season is that Ghost becomes a top-line regular with Provy. If I am wrong, this writer will happily take the clowning, but when I am right about this; I will throw a party on my Shayne Gostisbehere hill and you are all welcome to join.
The value that the Flyers would be getting for Ghost would be worth dealing with him especially at this point in his career. If the Flyers were going to get great value for him, they’d probably have already traded him to a team that still believes in his 60 point potential.
The cup-contending Flyers might as well continue to ride with Ghost, especially if they actually believe that he feels the healthiest he has been in a while because a 50-60 point season performance from Ghost could be a tipping point for the Flyers cup hopes.
Featured Image: The Philadelphia Inquirer
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