*Photo from Broad Street Hockey*
Another day, more and more NHL moves. The Arizona Coyotes have acquired D Shayne Gostisbehere, along with a 2022 second round and 7th round draft pick, from the Philadelphia Flyers, in exchange for future considerations, according to both teams.
Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong said "We've been in touch with Philadelphia probably since the beginning of the year about him, and just the thought process, we might have a chance to acquire him. For me, he's somebody that can really run a power play from up top, he's got a great shot, he just finds ways to get it through, his first pass coming out of the zone. He gives us something we don't have, and that's a really good puck-mover back there on the back side, and that's one of his strengths."
Suiting up for 41 of 56 regular season games last season, Gostisbehere contributed 9 goals and 11 assists as an offensive defenseman, with a -2 plus/minus in an ATOI of 19:56 last season. In his 7 seasons, all with the Flyers, Gostisbehere has 60 goals and 159 assists to his name, with a career -31 plus/minus in 381 games.
For the Flyers, the big reason for dealing Gostisbehere was his cap hit in a flat cap year. Gostisbehere is due $4.5 million a year, and has two years remaining on his contract. By trading him, the Flyers now have $13.9 million in cap space to work with, as free agency opens on Wednesday at noon.
Gostisbehere said of what he brings to the Coyotes that "I'm an offensive guy, I like to push the pace of play, I like to jump up in the play as well. I'm a puck-moving defenseman and I help a lot with transition play. I'm obviously a special-teams guy, the power play. I'd just like you to know that I'm a pretty good defenseman too. The biggest aspect for me is two-way play, I want to be reliable in both ends."
Even before this trade, it seemed like Gostisbehere's days in Philadelphia were limited anyway. He was placed on waivers last season, and no one claimed him, so he was assigned to the Flyers taxi squad. He was also left unprotected in the Seattle Kraken expansion draft, only for Seattle to select Carsen Twarynski instead.
Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher said "Shayne played really well for us not just last year but for many years. He was a model citizen, he's a true professional, he was a very good Flyer, so I really want to thank him for that. But our reality was pretty simple when you factor in the expected raises that Sanheim and Carter Hart will receive and we very much want to sign those two players. We didn't have a lot of space left to fill the holes we needed to fill, so we made the move we had to make."
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