Some incredibly unfortunate news hits the Flyers tonight from their minor league club, who will now be without arguably its top defenseman — and unarguably one of the organization’s most exciting prospects — for quite possibly the rest of the season.
INJURY UPDATE: Shayne Gostisbehere has a torn ACL and will have surgery on 11/13. He will be out indefinitely. → http://t.co/WHjgT82q3C
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 8, 2014
Gostisbehere suffered the injury on Friday night during the Phantoms’ win over the Manchester Monarchs. He was hit into the boards while taking the puck behind the net. You can see video of the hit that caused the injury below.
Ron Hextall spoke with reporters before tonight’s Flyers game against the Avalanche. He said, as expected, that recovery will take a number of months and very well could span for the rest of the season; however, Hextall seemed to believe there’s a chance that he could come back before it ends.
Gostisbehere played in five games for the Phantoms during this season, his first at the professional level. He tallied five assists and 10 shots on goal during those five games. He also made his NHL debut in late October, playing two games with the Flyers following injuries to Braydon Coburn and Andrew MacDonald.
It goes without saying that this is an awful setback for Gostisbehere and the Flyers, who have loved what he’s been doing in the AHL so far this season. Hextall sent him back to the AHL because he wanted him to keep developing his game, and now that’ll obviously take a bit longer than he was hoping.
In the meantime, fellow defensive prospects Robert Hagg and Brandon Manning will probably see their ice time hike a bit with Gostisbehere out. Heck of a year for injuries on defense. Can someone find Travis Sanheim and put him in bubble wrap?
