Gostisbehere sent down by Flyers

by Ryan Fay

Former Union defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere was sent down to the American Hockey League's Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Saturday, ending his bid to break camp with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Gostisbehere

In three preseason contests with the Flyers, Gostisbehere scored three goals, two of which were power-play tallies. But the defensive side of his game wasn't as ready as the offensive side.

"Scoring goals is one thing, but I think they're looking at other things - [like] how my defense is maturing, and just playing solid defense," Gostisbehere told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Flyers coach Dave Hakstol told the paper he liked what Gostisbehere brought to the table offensively, but added that his defense showed "some good and some bad along the way. I think he'll tell you the same thing. There are things he's learning every day."

Another contributing factor was the Flyers roster crunch. The team has eight defensemen on one-way contracts.

Gostisbehere was limited to seven games last season -- five with the Phantoms and two with the Flyers -- due to a torn ACL in his left knee that required surgery. But he showed no ill effects during the preseason, averaging about 20 minutes per game.

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