Provonov is in a funk; he'll snap out of it eventually because he's a great young player. It's not worth getting dramatic over. Hopefully, he snaps out of it sooner rather than later, so he doesn't drag Ghost down with him and get the pair split (which long-term is bad). One thing Hakstol has done well since that pair, against all Hakstokian Logic, came together: he's willingly endured bad goal differentials at times, placing his trust in the big picture and their talent. He's had chances to split them.
What's wrong is Provonov's expectations. Even if he plays well again, there's no law that says he must get rewarded with good on-ice results and points. He's previously ran a little high with the numbers the other way. I've said this before when talking about his next contract: if Ghost or Sanheim can have rotten luck with goals/points, so can Provonov any given year. I'm not saying 6 games is that year, but maybe this is the year; and it hasn't been unearned so far. He plays on a bad PP2 unit as well (complicity being a thing), which can exacerbate a funk.
There were people linear projecting his goals inching closer to 20, despite the PP and an outlier of non-5v5/PP goals last year, and his points creeping to 50+. People counting his Norris Trophies already, setting the bar for his contract at 8 years x $8-9 million. The best young defenseman since Doughty. I will still bet he finishes with 6-10 goals and 28-35 points, but those have always been in his realistic projections. And if he does that, even playing better 2-way, I guarantee some will act disappointed.
