In praise of Flyers coach Dave Hakstol, scratcher of Ghosts

Dave Hakstol is going to be second-guessed. It’s been happening since before his first game as Philadelphia Flyers coach.

Craig Berube had taken the fall for an underperforming roster, but one that had some significant holes management hadn’t filled. Dave Hakstol was hired after 11 seasons as head coach of the University of North Dakota, without ever having played or coached in the NHL. As far as many people could tell, Hakstol he got the job partly because he coached GM Ron Hextall’s son in college.

I remember talking to a Flyers player before last season, and he expressed what could best be described as a shrugging wait-and-see approach with an NHL neophyte as his coach. The waiting continued through an atrocious start, with four wins in their first 13 games.

Then the Flyers made the playoffs, and headlines like “Dave Hakstol not looking like a risk anymore” popped up.

On Thursday, Dave Hakstol was second-guessed again, something wicked. He made Shayne Gostisbehere a healthy scratch.

Shayne Gostisbehere. Ghost Bear. On Thursday morning, named Pro Athlete of the Year by the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association. By Thursday afternoon, informed he would be in a suit watching from the press box while his antithesis, Andrew MacDonald, drew into the lineup.

Look, there’s no defending the move from a hockey perspective, even after the Flyers’ 5-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets. Gostisbehere has been, demonstrably, the Flyers’ best defenseman:

Taking him off the ice makes the Flyers a worse team, on paper, and the coach was slaughtered for that by media and fans. But that’s obviously not what Hakstol’s going for, and his willingness to put two points in jeopardy to make a larger point is going to seem idiotic to some and admirable to others.

Sure, he approached the move like it was a teachable moment for his best student. “It’s not a small thing to have Shayne out of our lineup, yet I think it’s a good thing for him in his growth and in his development and a few things we’re asking him to concentrate on,” he said.

Hakstol deserves a cookie for this, because it’s not an automatic move for coaches of struggling teams. You don’t scratch the sacred cows. Please recall when the Edmonton Oilers, in those dark pre-McDavid days, would respond to the inadequate play of their top guys by scratching the sacrificial Russian, for example.

But the reality is that it wasn’t a message for Ghost Bear, but the other guys in the room, and the kid had to take the fall for that message to resonate.

“It’s accountability within our group,” Hakstol later said.

Wayne Simmonds, to the Courier Post, after the scratch:

“We have a surplus of forwards in this dressing room who can play in any given line and we’ve got a lot of guys who can go in and out and change their roles, chameleons I like to call them, so you gotta be prepared,” alternate captain Wayne Simmonds said. “You gotta be ready. You gotta definitely be mentally prepared every single day that you come to the rink so that you ensure that you do have a spot in the lineup.”

The Flyers have had a middling start: 8-7-3, a negative goal differential caused by inconsistent defense and sub-standard goaltending. This is not Shayne Gostisbehere’s fault. But that he was faulted for it puts everyone else on notice, and Hakstol deserves credit for that.

Of course, beating the Jets probably saved him a second day of being pilloried, too.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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