I'll just respectfully agree to disagree. Personally I dont think Provorov has played up to what I think he can be but players have their ups and downs especially ones trying to establish themselves.
Ghost is or should be coming into his prime right now but hes had some up and down years with injuries and stretches where the coach scratches him(happened under two regimes). I dont know what's going on in his head right now but hes not that same player who was dynamic. Now I'm not saying he doesn't show up but the problem right now for him is injuries and consistency. You can say it's his partner, the coach, or whatever I honestly just dont see that same guy since his career year. The last year of Hak he was up and down in play. I gave him the benefit of the doubt considering Hak and him had a beef. I thought he would rebound this year but he has repactured that level of play we grown to see.
That's the thing, he really hasn't had up and down years, at least not because of anything under his control or because of his own quality of play.
Look at each one...
First year = great
Second year = recovering from same injury/surgery that ruined Giroux's season
Third year = great
Fourth year = screwed over by coaching
Firth year = screwed over again and also terrible luck
He's the same player he was in 2017-2018, but there's a reason his production changed when his usage/teammates and the PP changed. Like I keep saying, that matters for literally every player and it's why we saw the same huge change in guys like Couturier, Sanheim, and TK when their usage changed (only it was the opposite of Ghost's usage change).
With Provorov he's been given every single prime advantage in every single part of the game. Top usage immediately, the best teammates, immune from punishment for mistakes, undeserved PP time, and so on. We've never seen him get f***ed over like Ghost or Sanheim have been. Last year he was awful and what happens? A huge new contract, right back on the top pair, and tons of PP time. No matter how he plays, he can be confident that his spot is secure. Ghost still has to look over his shoulder after every mistake because the coaches are just itching to punish him, and Sanheim was the same until recently (and both are getting screwed over with PP usage too, in spite of being far better PP players than Provorov or Niskanen).