A system and method for optimizing the selection of ghost channels to mitigate the effects of polarization hole burning in a node of an optical communication system including identifying an optical communication channel in the node for use as a ghost channel, identifying a first set of degrees carrying the optical communication channel within the node, identifying a second set of degrees within the first set of degrees, the second set containing the degrees with the optical communication channel being a valid channel, identifying a third set of degrees within the first set of degrees, the third set containing degrees with the optical communication channel being sufficiently powerful, and selecting a first degree to source the ghost channel from the first set of degrees based at least on the second set of degrees and the third set of degrees.