Sielski: Ghost incomparable among Flyers defensemen

Still on his skates, Shayne Gostisbehere waddled into the Flyers' locker room at the SkateZone on Tuesday after they had finished practice, and once he sat down, he took off his helmet and used his right hand to sweep his black, stringy hair from his face. That's one of the best parts of being young. You can grow your hair as long as you like, and it won't look silly. And if it does, well, that's OK because you're young.

Gostisbehere is 23. So he's definitely young, and that matters to the Flyers, general manager Ron Hextall in particular.

"He's not a young, young player," Hextall said. Rookie defenseman Ivan Provorov is 19. That's young, young. There's a difference, and Hextall had crunched some of the numbers on this. He took a look, for instance, at the roster of the team that won the Stanley Cup last season, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Other than goaltender Matt Murray, who was 21, the players who contributed most to the Penguins' championship run, even the greenest among them, were at least 23 years old.

"You have to look at the past," Hextall said, "and try to look at comps."

Look at the Flyers' past. A comp for Gostisbehere doesn't exist. The Flyers have had defensemen who were skilled offensively before, of course, but they've never drafted one, nurtured one, and produced one with Gostisbehere's skills and promise. He had 17 goals and 46 points in 64 games last season; was the runner-up for the Calder Trophy, awarded to the NHL's top rookie; was the player who did more than anyone to elevate the Flyers among the Eastern Conference's eight playoff teams. The Flyers averaged nearly three-quarters of a goal more per game when Gostisbehere played (2.77) than when he didn't (2.06). They were 34-19-11 with him in the lineup. At that pace over an 82-game season, they would have finished with 102 points, instead of the 96 they managed.

If Gostisbehere was that good last season, if he meant that much to a team that wasn't expected to qualify for the postseason at all, he ought to be even better this season now that he is more experienced, more familiar with the rigors of a full NHL season, a little smarter, maybe a little stronger, right?

"You certainly hope," Hextall said. "You hope every player, when they're in their early 20s, gets better every year. That's the goal. As we all know, it doesn't always happen. It can be one step back, two steps forward, whether you're talking about a young team or a young player. But we anticipate with Ghost that he'll certainly carry on from where he left off last year."

Gostisbehere is a wispy thing, and he will get wispier. Listed at 5-foot-11, he said Tuesday that he weighs 185 pounds. He weighed 185 before last season. By the time the Flyers lost in six games to the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, he weighed 170. He doesn't want to shed quite so many pounds this season. "It's just taking care of my body a little better," he said, "on the ice, off the ice, in the gym, everything." After he underwent hip surgery in May, his participation last month in the World Cup of Hockey for Team North America "kicked me in the rear end to get going," he said, forcing him to accelerate his rehabilitation.

Over his three games in the tournament, Gostisbehere collected four assists, including three in a 4-3 overtime victory over Sweden. On one, he dollied himself to a loose puck in North America's defensive zone and, while moving laterally and without turning his head forward, flicked a backhand pass that sprang teammate Johnny Gaudreau for a breakaway goal. It was a subtle yet powerful indication of the creativity and instincts that Gostisbehere has and that circumstances allowed him to display once the Flyers called him up from the minors to replace Mark Streit.

The quarterback of the team's power play, Streit missed six weeks early last season because of a pelvic injury. His absence opened a hole that Gostisbehere, because the two are similar in their styles of play, was perfect to plug.

"He had some early success," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said, "and I think that really propelled him and helped his everyday confidence level, which I think is very important for young players. There are bigger battles here. You have to fight through an 82-game season and hold that confidence through some of the good and bad times."

He has to hold it, too, just to play the position he does in the manner he does. Everyone around the NHL acknowledges the importance of defensemen who are mobile, who can move the puck quickly to their teammates, who can lead a rush into an opponent's offensive zone or ignite a counterattack. But even those demands and responsibilities have evolved in recent years, Hakstol said.

"You used to talk about 'the cycle,' and it would be three forwards down low cycling the puck. Right now, we're in an era where there are five-man cycles in the offensive zone, and every guy plays a part."

To play it as well as Gostisbehere did last season requires a measure of speed and daring that few defensemen possess. Those who possess those qualities have the capability of becoming great, especially if they're still young.

Peruse the list of teams that have won or contended for the Stanley Cup this decade, and the thread tethering them to each other is obvious: the presence of one or two dominant, multifaceted defensemen. Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook with the Chicago Blackhawks. Kris Letang with the Penguins. Zdeno Chara with the Boston Bruins. Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Drew Doughty with the Los Angeles Kings. The Flyers' hope is that those players are the most direct and relevant comps for Gostisbehere and Provorov, if they're not already.

"It's special to have Provy on our team," Gostisbehere said, "and if we could do that one day, that would be awesome because the other guys are pretty good."

He chuckled to himself as he said it, as if he understood he had a long way yet to go to get there but knew he could. That's one of the best parts of being young. The dreaming.

msielski@phillynews.com

@MikeSielski