Flyers make Shayne Gostisbehere a healthy scratch vs. Jets
On Thursday, Shayne Gostisbehere was named Pro Athlete of the Year by the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association. One hour later, he learned he’d be a healthy scratch against the Winnipeg Jets.
Andrew MacDonald will be the likely replacement for the last season’s Calder Trophy runner-up.
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Gostisbehere will watch from the press box for the first time in his career, which could serve as a valuable experience for the young defenseman
Via Kyle Phillippi of Broad Street Hockey:
“It’s accountability within our group,” said head coach Dave Hakstol. “It’s an opportunity for him to address some things within his game and an opportunity to watch the game from above which can help a young player. Beyond that, he’s got to work day to day and go do the work and get ready to play two days from now.”
Gostisbehere, who’s currently tied with Mark Streit as the Flyers leading scorer among defensemen (10 points), has been a positive possession player in over 260 of even strength minutes this season (53 percent Corsi), via Natural Stat Trick, so there’s no concern over his offensive abilities.
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While this may irk some, especially considering the Flyers have dropped four of their last five, let’s not expect this to be a prolonged thing. GhostBear will sit for one game and be back in the lineup on Saturday when they host the Steven Stamkos-less Tampa Bay Lightning much more aware of what he needs to do to prevent being scratched again. Time and time again players have talked about how much of a difference they see when watching from the press box. Little things like realizing they have more time out on the ice with the puck can go a long way.
For now, he’ll just enjoy the popcorn.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow,” Gostisbehere said. “But I think it’s the best for me right now. I’m going to get up there in that box and take everything in and make this into a positive.”
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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
