Gostisbehere still learning, but now has time to do so
The Flyers could have taken more time with Shayne Gostisbehere, their pending third-year defenseman who was also a pending restricted free agent. They owned his rights, and had time to sign him to a new contract, since you simply don’t see teams trying to steal RFAs away anymore.
Besides, “The Ghost” is still a raw defensive asset. He’s also a much richer young man, after signing a six-year, $27 million contract Friday.
The $4.5 million AAV for Gostisbehere is a significant figure, but also seems fair. It doesn’t put him in the top-50 highest-paid defenders in the league, perhaps a carryover effect from what he admitted was a struggling sophomore season.
He seemed no less excited,
though.
“It’s a dream come true to be part of one of the best organizations in hockey,” Gostisbehere said via a team statement. “With everything that’s going on here — we’ve got some young guys coming up and we’ve already got some key pieces — it’s nice to know you’re part of the future and part of the plans.”
Gostisbehere, now 24, had his troubles with defensive positioning last season. He was a healthy scratch a handful of times by head coach Dave Hakstol, the most memorable coming Feb. 2, when Gostisbehere and fellow blooming rookie star Travis Konecny were healthy scratches together.
“A lot comes at a young player,” general manager Ron Hextall said Friday. “A lot of young players are handed unlimited ice time, unlimited roles, because all the way up they’re the best player on their team. There’s lessons that a lot of them have to go through as pros. Ghost went through some of those last year and he’s clearly going to be a better player because of it.
“Our young players have to earn it. If (they) deserve to be in the lineup for 82 games they’re going to be in the lineup. If they don’t deserve to be in the lineup, they’re going to be out of the lineup, just like anybody else.”
At the time, the benchings seemed to come as a bit of a shock for Gostisbehere, considering the fantastic 2015-16 ride he’d taken as a rookie.
Promoted from the AHL’s Phantoms in November, he injected instant life into the Flyers’ power play. He would go on to score 17 goals and 46 points, was voted the Flyers’ top defensman, was voted onto the NHL’s All-Rookie team and finished second in voting for the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year.
But teams were adjusting to Gostisbehere by late in his rookie season, and taking advantage of his diminutive (5-8, 180) size. After surgery on his hip and abdomen in May 2016, he quickly pronounced himself fit, but he proceeded to start the season slow and had problems throughout.
Unlike Claude Giroux, who had similar surgery on the same day as Gostisbehere the prior May, the young defenseman said the surgeries had not greatly impacted his game.
“You could always say, ‘Oh yeah, it’s the injury. That’s it,’” Gostisbehere said in one interview in late March. “For me, it’s just looking in the mirror and go put the work in.”
He’d wind up with seven goals and 39 points in 76 games, but the Flyers’ nonplayoff die had already been cast. Now, however, his future with the team seems set in stone.
“Shayne’s a young defenseman with a very bright future,” Hextall said. “He certainly fits in with our vision moving forward and we’re real excited to have him under contract longterm here.”
Yes, but wasn’t it only Wednesday that Hextall had offered essentially a verbal shrug when asked about Gostisbehere contract negotations? At that time, he’d said he’d “like to have him signed before training camp.”
Well, here he is. Sophomore warts and all ... hopefully behind him.
“Shayne got a little bit of tough love last year and I think if you’d ask him now he’d say, ‘You know what, that’s not necessarily a bad thing,’” Hextall said. “Every player gets disappointed at some point in their career and you learn to deal with it. So he learned lessons from that and he’ll be a better player and a better person as a result.”
••• NOTES » One signing done, Hextall seemed exhausted when asked if there was any progress on the talks surrounding pending UFA Jordan Weal. “I haven’t talked to his agent since the (draft) combine,” Hextall said. “We’ve got a lot going on here and we’ll see how it goes.” ... In addition to Weal, Mike Vecchione (likely) and Nick Cousins (up in the air) are RFAs that may or may not be signed. RFA Roman Lyubimov has been booted back to Europe, while Chris Vande-Velde, Steve Mason, Michael Del Zotto and Nick Schultz are pending UFAs either likely gone or already confirmed to be so.