It’s been a busy week. There have been several significant trades, the sell-off of high-priced assets, and buyouts exercised to clear cap space. Oh yeah, and the 2023 NHL Draft, where all 32 teams added young, exciting talent to their prospect pipelines.
One thing that may have slipped under the radar was a note at the very bottom of Pierre LeBrun’s Tuesday column for The Athletic: Shayne Gostisbehere “will not be re-signing with Carolina.”
Gostisbehere, 30, finished 13th on our list of the Top 50 Unrestricted Free Agents after an interesting season. He started the year with the Arizona Coyotes, continuing to provide strong offensive production from the back end. His 31 points finished eighth in Coyotes scoring, despite only playing 52 games for the team.
A deadline deal took him from the bottom of the standings to the top, as he joined the Carolina Hurricanes to try and fix a struggling powerplay. In 23 games with Carolina, Gostisbehere added three goals and ten points, posting insane possession numbers in a sheltered role.
That sheltered situation positions Gostisbehere as such an intriguing free agent. He is not a strong defender, and takes too many risks to be trusted as a top-pairing option (at least on a contender). But few defensemen in the league can generate offensive chances as efficiently as him, and he routinely tilts the ice in his team’s favor when played in the right situation.
Since entering the league in 2015, Gostisbehere sits 17th in points from defensemen, ahead of names like Aaron Ekblad, Shea Theodore, and Josh Morrissey. Over that stretch, he ranks even higher in powerplay points, ahead of players like Morgan Rielly and Dougie Hamilton.
There is a role for Gostisbehere on a contending team, but it’s unclear how much teams will want to pay. The six-year, $27MM contract he received from Philadelphia in 2017 is probably out of the question, but it will be interesting to see how much he can secure this time.
2 year for $7m (3.5 per) likely his deal, at either Calgary (if they offload Hanifin) or Minn
Solid take. Calgary could use some offence now that Toffoli is gone and Hanafin next.
Doubt he’d settle for that. He’s rebuilt his career enough to be able to get term or more money than 3.5. SOMEone would give it to him, and under the circumstances, Detroit’s a prime candidate.
I think he said contender?
He was awful defensively for the Canes. Offense dried up too. A team is going to overpay him and regret it.
Of course you babble that every contract is an overpay so your posts have become nothing more than a bit of humor around here. You and Wilf may be related.