The Ghost Faction and Their Arguments
The faction that supports Ghost is vehement about Ghost’s superiority to Hagg or virtually any Flyers defensemen save for Provorov. The primary argument utilized is the Corsi percentage. Corsi, at its base, is counting stat, converted to a percentage. It can be misleading and often points to inaccurate conclusions, especially looked at in a Corsi vacuum. The most severe drawback, amongst a multitude of them, is that it has no way to gauge shot quality. Said another way, a blocked shot from the blueline is as valuable as a shot from a two on zero breakaway. This metric is the one that Ghost consistently excels in and is the weapon of choice for the “advanced metrics” crowd.
Corsi certainly has its place and can be used to reinforce or validate conclusions, but to use this as the primary tool for evaluation is silly. To that point, as good as Gostisbehere’s Corsi is, his plus/minus is inversely bad. Since goals determine wins, not shots, it would seem that plus/minus, even with its drawbacks, would be closer to a player defining stat than Corsi. Gostisbehere has a career Corsi percentage of 52.1 and is -29.
His benefits are obvious to the naked eye. At his best, he is an offensive puck mover that makes great decisions with the puck. He is a dynamo on the power play, easily in the league’s top ten as a quarterback. When Gostisbehere is going well, he is a defenseman who can keep offensive pressure in the opposition and make jaw-dropping setups to teammates.
He usually makes the right play defensively, however, the issue is not his decision making, it is his execution. Much like the eye test shows how good he is with the puck, it also reveals that Gostisbehere struggles mightily defending the cycle. He makes the right decision but lacks the strength of physicality to dispossess the puck carrier. This leads to high-end chances.
If he is trying to cover the puck handler on the cycle, it is effectively an odd-man situation. The cycling player can hold him off while still having the passing or shooting options. This is the fatal flaw in Gostisbehere’s defending and the league has recognized it.
The more fervent Gostisbehere supporters also claim that the Flyers have not found a player who is smart enough/good enough to play with him. At its essence this is true, but it should be noted that the list of players who are unable to play with him is getting longer and more distinguished by the day. Hagg, Braun, Sanheim, Niskanen, Gudas, and even Provorov are all members of said list. It seems the one person who could play with him was Andrew MacDonald. I hear he is available. As the list grows, one has to wonder if it is the other player or if it is Ghost. Hagg has no such list.