Todd McLellan has a lot of praise for Shayne Gostisbehere

Generally, Todd McLellan has nothing to do with Shayne Gostisbehere. He was the longtime coach of the San Jose Sharks; now, he’s the latest bench boss entrusted to advance along the Edmonton Oilers’ rebuild.

Two teams in the Pacific Division - you can’t get much further from Philadelphia than that.

But for a couple of weeks before the real season starts, McLellan has a lot to do with Gostisbehere. He’s the coach of the World Cup of Hockey’s Team North America, featuring the best of the best 23-and-under Canadian and American players: one of whom so happens to be Gostisbehere.

Camp has only just started, but McLellan already has a ton of praise for one of his young defensemen.

McLellan probably isn’t actually going to use him like that - there’s a lot of talent at his disposal on Team North America - but he’s definitely on one of those powerplay units.

And remember, this is a coach who’s going to have to play against him a couple of times a year.

And remember remember - the Flyers still have even more young, exciting defensemen coming up through the ranks.

Things were already looking good for the future of the backend; comments like this from someone who is, most of the time, an opposing coach just serve as an exciting reminder for what we can probably expect to come.