Philadelphia Flyers fans had an opportunity on Saturday night to watch one of the organization’s top prospects win a national championship at the Wells Fargo Center. They will now have ample more opportunities to watch defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere next season- he has officially signed an entry level contract with the Flyers.
Gostisbehere returned with his teammates on the Union College Dutchmen men’s ice hockey team to Schenectady, New York following their 7-4 victory over the University of Minnesota Gophers. Although he was on the Flyers’ reserve list as of the NHL trade deadline, he needed to be signed by Sunday in order to be eligible for the Stanley Cup playoffs. Once Sunday passed, it seemed inevitable that the twenty year-old defenseman would announce he was returning to Union for his senior year.
Instead, he will sign an amateur try out (“ATO”) with the Adirondack Phantoms for the remainder of the season (two games).
“Ghost” will return to Philadelphia following those two games to practice with the “black aces,” though he will still be ineligible to play. It will be more of an introduction to the team.
There were high hopes that Phantoms would make the postseason this year, considering the organization had an influx of talent from their 2011 draft including Nick Cousins and Marcel Noebels. The Phantoms finished 13th of 15 Eastern Conference teams, unfortunately, leaving Glens Falls with nary a playoff game in their five year existence.
When the 2014-15 Phantoms’ season begins in Allentown, the organization will have no less than four prospects from the 2012 NHL Entry Draft eligible for the team- Gostisbehere, center Scott Laughton (1st round pick), goaltender Anthony Stolarz (2nd round pick) and winger Taylor Leier (4th round pick). They will also be joined by 2013 2nd round draft pick Robert Hägg, who signed an entry level contract several weeks ago.
Assuming the organization doesn’t rush his development, Gostisbehere should spend at least one season in the AHL. There are going to be aspects of his game that need to be adjusted for a faster game, and as Nick Cousins learned this year (he has scored half of his 11 goals this season in the last month), making the jump isn’t always easy.
When speaking with reporters today, he also indicated that he’d like to bulk up from his current weight in the 170’s to a weight in the 180’s. General manager Paul Holmgren joked in response, “You don’t want to load down your ferrari.”
Weird joke aside, it’s refreshing that the organization didn’t burn a year off his entry level contract to make him eligible for the playoffs (though it’s possible Gostisbehere simply wasn’t ready to sign on Sunday). They are regularly criticized for their lack of a quality farm system, but their draft talent has been steadily improving since the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.
It just takes time to build and they started late.
Signing Gostisbehere is an excellent foot forward in the right direction.
They better hope “Ghost”, Haag, & Morin pan out, because this DF corps blows, is full with overpaid mediocre defense-men & we are now stuck with McDonald(2019), & Streit(2017).
Slowburn, Grossman, & Schenn, are Mastodons on skates, & need to go!
Josh, I hardly ever get a chance to respond to your articles but I always read them and appreciate them. You were the ONLY blogger I read that wrote about him right after that Championship game. I for one recorded that game a watched every shift of his in utter joy. He was the best player on the ice and I was GIDDY.
I’m ecstatic he signed and is getting his time. He fully deserves to play a year with the Phantoms. I’d like to see 20 more pounds of muscle (he can still maintain his skating at 190) by the time the 15-16 rolls around. I hope to see him in Orange n Black until my kids reach high school!
Sounds like it will be time to take my boy to some Phantoms games next year. Man I wish they still played in Philly. I know that we get a couple of games a year here, but not enough. Flyers games cost too much dough.
Nice work getting this deal done. I was unaware Haag also signed and entry contract. That’s why Josh is a must read.