Flyers trade Shayne Gostisbehere to Coyotes

The Flyers have traded defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, as well as a 2022 second and seventh round pick, to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for absolutely nothing.

The Flyers have been looking to unload and they’ve done exactly that, clearing up $4.5 million in cap space.

This allows them to go after bigger targets such as Vladimir Taresenko, or any other options general manager Chuck Fletcher sees fit.

The Flyers already traded for defenseman Ryan Ellis earlier this week, and some more shake ups to the Flyers roster are to be expected as Fletcher hinted at during his Thursday press conference.

“I do believe we’ll have a better team by the end of next Wednesday,” Fletcher said.

The Flyers GM also talked about a team wanting defensive prospect Cam York or the 13th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft along with Gostisbehere in a trade package. The Flyers were unwilling to give those pieces up, and rightfully so.

Gostisbehere leaves the Flyers fifth in all-time points scored by a defenseman with 219 and was also a two time Barry Ashbee Trophy winner (an award given to the Flyers best defenseman in a particular year).

Gostisbehere’s seven years for the Flyers were met with high expectations which he excelled in his spectacular 2015-2016 rookie season, but in recent years hockey fans have thought he could benefit from a change of scenery.

He’ll be donning the kachina for the Coyotes next season and it was a necessary move for the orange and the black moving forward.