Shayne Gostisbehere

[JaysFan]

Can I piggyback on this thread to ask what is wrong with Provorov?

He was supposed to be a multi-cat asset (was a stud last year) and is just no where near where I expected.

Is he playing hurt? Anyone watching enough to comment?

[lucafen4]

Can I piggyback on this thread to ask what is wrong with Provorov?

He was supposed to be a multi-cat asset (was a stud last year) and is just no where near where I expected.

Is he playing hurt? Anyone watching enough to comment?

you can keep this list going with Simmonds, Voracek, etc... there's a lot wrong with Philly in general - that's a large part of what's wrong with Provorov.

That said, I'm not sure he was 100% coming back into the this season after that shoulder injury during the playoffs.

[SeaDawg]

Can I piggyback on this thread to ask what is wrong with Provorov?

He was supposed to be a multi-cat asset (was a stud last year) and is just no where near where I expected.

Is he playing hurt? Anyone watching enough to comment?

I've watched almost every Philly game so feel qualified to comment on Provorov (as well as Gostisbehere). Provorov's struggles to me are not quite as surprising as Gostisbehere's (although I didn't expect a repeat of 65 pts, I didn't expect Gostsibehere to be on a 35 pt pace). Just like last year, Provorov is getting practically no power play time. Just like last year, the only way he will score points is at even strength.

The problem is that Philly isn't scoring much, so Provorov isn't getting any mooch points (secondary assists), and it is unfair to expect him to repeat his 17 goal performance. That total was almost certainly going to regress. So, when you look at the inevitable regression of goals and the lack of power play time and lack of even strength scoring overall by Philly, Provorov's struggles are easily explained.

[JaysFan]

Thanks for the insight. In addition to not getting as many points Provorov is shooting less, hitting and blocking less than last year...across the board his numbers are down to the point where he is barely roster able.. hanging on on Hope's he bounces back because of their dense H2H playoffs schedule.

[SeaDawg]

Thanks for the insight. In addition to not getting as many points Provorov is shooting less, hitting and blocking less than last year...across the board his numbers are down to the point where he is barely roster able.. hanging on on Hope's he bounces back because of their dense H2H playoffs schedule.

Sorry, I was only focusing on the offensive and not considering Provorov's mult-cat prowess (or lack thereof). I can't quite explain that, to be honest. I could speculate that he is still a bit injured, or worried about getting re-injured, or maybe he is trying to change his style of play to have a longer career, or maybe the coaching staff doesn't want him to get hurt and to focus more on offense instead of hitting, block shots, etc. Just speculation.

[jhonny]

Sorry, I was only focusing on the offensive and not considering Provorov's mult-cat prowess (or lack thereof). I can't quite explain that, to be honest. I could speculate that he is still a bit injured, or worried about getting re-injured, or maybe he is trying to change his style of play to have a longer career, or maybe the coaching staff doesn't want him to get hurt and to focus more on offense instead of hitting, block shots, etc. Just speculation.

Philly local here and watching while holding back the urge to vomit... this team is lost in the locker room. They despearately need a Torts-like coach to crack this back into form and steal the complacency that Coach Claude & Voracek have instilled. This is an ASAP matter so they don't ruin the entire young D corp, an upstart goalie and Konecny...

IMHO, I think the best move right now is to move those two while they have solid trade value and load up on a few of these VERY fast 20 year olds that the rest of the league seems to have no problems with pulling up to the parent club and letting them skate cirlces around every player over 27 years of age.

Rant over... which reminds me of a case in Point: Rantanen... and Point for that matter... you don't have to be a top 3 pick anymore to raise eyebrows before legal drinking age! And for the love of Laviolette, can Voracek pass the dang puck before carrying it 20 seconds and turning it over... oh and please put a guy in front of the net instead of 2 or 3 behind the net........ ok rant really over now. Gonna go see if we can jump the Flames now.

[SeaDawg]

Gostisbehere and Provorov both look pretty good out there through two periods today. And more exciting (at least to me) is that the power play has looked better, and I think maybe the coaching staff read my earlier post because they have switched up the unit a bit. Gostisbehere has been playing the half wall a lot, with Voracek on the point (though they have switched it up a few times). This set up gives them more options, imo, and doesn't limit them to the slapper from Gostisbehere from the point. The first unit hasn't scored (yet), but it is looking really good today.

[jhonny]

Agree with SeaDawg... and although it was lucky, Provorov snagged an apple!

[Shift Disturber]

This is getting ridiculous. I mean, I can understand that everything went right for him last year and he was due for a correction, but 17 points in 45 games??? He can’t really be this bad...can he?

[SeaDawg]

I watched the last three games and focused very closely on Gostisbehere. He really isn't doing much differently than last year, but the team as a whole just isn't scoring many goals, especially on the power play. They move the puck well on the pp, but are lacking the finish. It is really frustrating as a Gostisbehere owner to see him doing virtually everything I'd expect from him, but just not getting any breaks. NO ONE on this team is scoring right now, but the fault certainly doesn't lie with Gostisbehere. I mean, it would be nice if he scored the odd goal or two, but realistically (like most dmen) his fantasy value relies heavily on the team scoring goals. Gostisbehere is still getting absolutely premium deployment by the coaching staff. He is out there for every power play and mostly every offensive zone draw. He is out there late in games when they are down a goal, and he is certainly over the boards for every second line change in if a game goes to overtime. The puck just isn't going in when he is on the ice (heck, the puck barely goes in at all for the Flyers this year).

[SeaDawg]

Just when I thought it couldn't get much worse for us Gostisbehere owners, tonight the Flyers are running a 5-forward power play unit, and they've already scored a goal (something that hasn't happened often lately).

It is absolutely unfair, imo, to blame the power play woes on Gostisbehere, but I give the coaching staff credit for trying something different. Long-term, I'm still quite high on Gostisbehere, but if this arrangement continues for a while, there may not be any way for Gostisbehere to turn this season around even a little. In one-year leagues, if you haven't already released Gostisbehere, the time may be now to do so.

[MZac]

Ya I mean how do you not have JVR on that power play and they love Simmonds in front. Both jvr and Simmonds went right to the front of the net on the goal tonight. So I guess that leaves gost as the odd man out... For what it's worth I don't think it will last long term, the 5 forward pp never seems to.

[Shift Disturber]

Well, at least we found out how many goals Philly needs to score for Gost to get a point. Turns out it’s seven.

[FrozenInferno]

Florida tried this setup once or twice this season and it never stuck there either

[SeaDawg]

Gostisbehere had a season low 16 mins of ice time last night. The 3rd lowest minutes for a dman on the team. Generally he is up around 20 mins of ice time.

I don't know how long this pp formation will last, and I can try to find a silver lining in this (it would be worse, imo, if Gostisbehere lost his spot to another dman), but the truth is that this is very frustrating.

I wonder if Philly would ever consider dealing Gostisbehere. Given his skill-level and awesome contract, they could probably get a real nice return for him. If they aren't going to let him use his skills on the power play and instead let him waste away on the bottom-pairing, perhaps they'd be better off dealing him for some quality assets they could actually use.