But he was. As someone that has gone through the exact same issues as him I would like to think I can offer that perspective.
Once your unbalanced it's borderline imposible to break 25 years of normality. You start over using muscles to counter the deficiency in muscle strength. Which means your centre of balance is all over the place, constant niggles appear and pains (like strong cramps) appear frequently from your nervous system trying to protect you. From your lower back, through your hamstrings, down your calves and literally into the soles of your feet. The fluid action of running/skating uses every single one of these muscles in sync. Your sciatic nerve runs the full length and also plays havok.
So the left side of your back, pairs with your right hamstring which pairs with your left calf. Thats what keeps you upright while moving, and obviously vice-versa. It also keeps your weight even, so controlling a puck, shooting and passing.
When you essentially remove one of those muscles for an extended period of time ( say a hip surgery in Ghosts case) your body can naturally try to balance you, by overworking the unaffected muscles. This makes them prone to tears, over exertion and fatigue. Then, when you finally have full movement back, you tend to work extensively on the un-used muscle group to return strength. But finding the balance is very, very difficult.
It explains perfectly why all of his natural body actions were all over the place. His strength which is obviously the big slap shot was missing by feet, let alone inches. His turns were laboured and he had little to no explosiveness in his skating. It's a physical limitation to have your centre of balance being f***ed around because your body is a mess.
It took working with one of the best sports physios in the country for me to return to playing without the constant niggles and pain.