The Philadelphia Flyers have announced that Shayne Gostisbehere will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee next week, and will be out for three weeks. The team has also recalled David Kase from the minor leagues while sending Mikhail Vorobyev down to the AHL.
Gostisbehere, 26, has seen his offensive production evaporate over the last two seasons and his usage decrease alongside it. The Calder Trophy runner-up in 2015-16 after scoring 46 points in 64 games, he hit a career high in 2017-18 with 65 points. That total seems a lifetime away at the moment as he sits with just 12 points in 40 games this season and now facing an uphill battle back from injury.
While he is still a useful player, Gostisbehere has only averaged a little over 18 minutes a night this season as the Flyers lean heavily on Ivan Provorov and Matt Niskanen instead. That has led to plenty of trade rumors given his contract status—signed through the 2022-23 season at a $4.5MM cap hit—and obvious upside. Philadelphia has a whole army of young defensemen and more coming, though many are still relatively unproven at the NHL level.
With the Flyers set to have nine straight days off near the end of the month, there is a chance that Gostisbehere could miss only a handful of games.
that sucks, but at the very least he’s less likely to be traded now
@DarkSide830 – maybe, but look how much noise is being made about potentially trading Jason Zucker, who is still gimped up. Two very different players, but still…maybe this explains Ghost’s drop-off in play.