PHILADELPHIA, PA – JANUARY 12: Shayne Gostisbehere #53 of the Philadelphia Flyers speaks with CSNPhilly reporter John Boruk after defeating the Vancouver Canucks 5-4 in a shootout on January 12, 2017 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)

Why don’t the Flyers believe in ghosts? Are the Blues bad? When will Donald Trump attend his first hockey game? And what are some of the NHL’s “alternative facts” from this season? You’ve got questions, I’ve got answers, some of them good. Maybe. I don’t know. Mailbag!

1. Ghost Hunter

I’ve seen about five Flyers games this year. I’d love to sit here and tell you I’ve watched video of every Shayne Gostisbehere shift this season and will now break down his game so thoroughly that you’d think I was a video coach for the Flyers. Alas, I barely had time in the last month to see Rogue One, so you can be assured I didn’t have time to watch all of one team’s games.

Here’s one thing I know about hockey: a trait shared by almost every bad coach is a propensity for scratching your best young players to set an example or to teach the player a lesson or some other made-up reason that masks the fact that you’re out of ideas. Team is playing bad? Is it your system? Your lines? Your goaltender? If you’ve decided that your best defenseman from a season ago is the problem when you’ve lost a bunch of games in a row, chances are, it is you who is the problem.

Is Dave Hakstol a bad coach? I’m not sure. The Flyers are top 10 in score-adjusted Fenwick after finishing 15th a year ago. Considering their talent level, the Flyers are probably doing slightly better than they should, and that has to do something with Hakstol, right?

But maybe it has more to do with Gostisbehere.

PHILADELPHIA, PA - JANUARY 21: Philadelphia Flyers Head Coach Dave Hakstol looks on during a NHL hockey game between the New Jersey Devils and the Philadelphia Flyers on January 21, 2017, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA. The Flyers defeated the Devils. (Photo by Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA – JANUARY 21: Philadelphia Flyers Head Coach Dave Hakstol looks on during a NHL hockey game between the New Jersey Devils and the Philadelphia Flyers on January 21, 2017, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA. The Flyers defeated the Devils. (Photo by Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The Flyers’ raw Fenwick is 51.6 percent; Gostisbehere’s is 54.4 percent. Last year, the Flyers/Gostisbehere split was 50.4/50.6, so you could say the man has improved more than the team has.

So why is Gostisbehere being singled out? Is he playing worse? His Fenwick says otherwise. Is he on the ice for a lot of goals against, far more than the rest of his teammates? His PDO of 95.7 — worst on the team — says yes. The Flyers’ 5-on-5 save percentage with Ghostisbehere on the ice is .926, fifth-worst on the team.

When you wonder why Gostisbehere gets the scratch instead of Andrew MacDonald, who has proven to be demonstrably bad over the years, it probably has to do with the Flyers’ 5-on-5 save percentage of .943 while he is on the ice in spite of his team-worst 47.9 percent Fenwick.

Not being able to see that and scratching Gostisbehere is the sign of a coach that is either ignoring or unable to see the writing on the wall and thus a bad coach. Having that manifest in the form of a scratch is even worse. The narrative that teams have “figured out” Gostisbehere is silly, especially when the possession data says otherwise.

If you want to criticize his scoring numbers being way down, the Flyers’ 5-on-5 shooting percentage with Gostisbehere on the ice screams bad luck louder than the save percentage. It’s a mere 3.1 percent, worst on the team; a year ago, it was 7 percent. It seems like very bad shooting luck both team-wise and individually, as Gostisbehere is producing about the same amount of shot volume but has seen his shooting percentage plummet from 11.2 percent to 3.6 percent.

The reality of Gostisbehere as an offensive defenseman probably lies somewhere in the middle (and in my opinion, he’s closer to the 11.2 to the 3.6) but there’s nothing that indicates he’s playing “bad” and needs to be scratched.

Back to the fact I’ve seen five Flyers games. I’m willing to concede there could be flaws in his game you only catch while watching him. Keith Yandle’s numbers in Arizona made him seem like a solid defenseman trapped on a bad team, but I can tell you after watching him for a year-plus in-person with the Rangers that he had flaws to his game that belied his possession stats. That Florida contract is silly.

But even if that’s the case, with both Gostisbehere and Yandle, benching them for a seventh defenseman doesn’t make your team better. Letting MacDonald or Dan Girardi play 20 minutes isn’t the answer. Being afraid to scratch a well-liked veteran for fear it will upset the locker room and instead scratching the second-year guy is a coward’s move to light a fire under a team.

It’s also the sign of a bad coach.

2. Blues Myself

Much like Rogue One, the Blues aren’t bad but they’re certainly not good, either. While Rogue One has many flaws, the Blues have one and it’s Jake Allen.

The Blues gave the reins to Allen in the offseason when they traded Brian Elliott and man oh man, has Allen been terrible. You don’t see a goaltender left home during a season so he can clear his head. Allen’s .897 save percentage is so bad that the Dallas Stars goaltenders feel bad for him. Carter Hutton (.892 in 12 starts) has been bad too, but you can lay a lot of this season at Allen’s feet.

Are they sellers at the deadline? Either way, trading Kevin Shattenkirk makes sense. They already have two top-six right-handed defensemen in Alex Pietrangelo and Colton Parayko, so getting a capable young forward for the pending free agent makes a lot of sense. The Blues aren’t really built for a trade deadline sell-off so with this being Ken Hitchcock’s last year in St. Louis, they will still go for it.

3. Trump Ice

I bet he does it this year, too. Think about it: It’s a sport that’s almost entirely white guys and the team in the nation’s capital has a Russian superstar. Throw in the fact that he’s already taken a weekend off and I wouldn’t be shocked if Trump attends every home playoff game and demands to hand the Cup to Alex Ovechkin if they win it all.

4. Jedice Mind Trick

You wish. I wish. They will continue to churn out mediocre nostalgia-fests because Star Wars fans are crazy people that lose their mind over the release of a movie’s title and will see a movie they’ve seen already 11 times.

Hunker down and accept you’re getting one Star Wars movie per year until Trump nukes America because that’s where the mean tweets come from.

5. Alternative Reality

Here are five:

  1. Yes, the Blue Jackets are an elite team. That’s easily No. 1.
  2. Shea Weber is why the Canadiens have turned it around this year.
  3. The Bruins would be better off if they fired Claude Julien.
  4. John Chayka is a genius and this season was all part of the plan.
  5. Las Vegas will be a playoff contender next season.