The Arizona Coyotes have acquired Shayne Gostisbehere from the Philadelphia Flyers. The offensive defenseman has been in the rumor mill for years, but will finally find his way out of Philadelphia. The Coyotes will also receive a 2022 second-round pick and a 2022 seventh-round pick, the Flyers will not receive anything. Philadelphia GM Chuck Fletcher released a short statement on the move:
This was a difficult decision but one we thought was necessary given the reality of the salary cap. Shayne has been a quality player for this organization since the moment he arrived in Philadelphia and has been a part of many special moments in his seven seasons as a Flyer.
After landing Ryan Ellis just before the trade freeze went into effect, it was clear the Flyers would need to clear some money before the season started. Moving Gostisbehere accomplishes that, as his $4.5MM cap hit will be going to the Coyotes in full.
Ever since he signed a six-year, $27MM contract extension in 2017, there has been speculation about Gostisbehere’s future in Philadelphia. He had burst onto the NHL scene in 2015-16 with 46 points as a rookie, finishing second in Calder Trophy voting, and followed it up with an up-and-down sophomore campaign. At first, the new deal seemed like a steal, as Gostisbehere racked up 65 points in 78 games during the 2017-18 season. But then things started to unravel, to the point where he was made a healthy scratch several times over the last two seasons.
This year, he had 20 points in 41 games, still playing a high-risk style that drove offense but sacrificed defense. There’s no question that he can be a valuable piece to a team looking for someone to contribute from the back end, but with the other options already in the Flyers system, he had become redundant.
For Arizona though, Gostisbehere not only represents a player that can still contribute, but also a way to recoup some of the assets the organization has lost over the last few years. The team was forced to forfeit two high draft picks after scouting violations and then renounced another after selecting a player that had been convicted of assault. By accepting Gostisbehere’s full cap hit, they’ve added two picks to the system that they can use to build it back up.
The Coyotes, under the leadership of new GM Bill Armstrong, now have seven second-round picks over the next two drafts. Though the 11th pick this year, which originally belonged to them, will still be forfeited, they at least will be able to pump prospects into the organization that have a chance to help them find success in the future. Twice now, along with accepting Andrew Ladd’s deal, the team has used cap space as a weapon. It will be interesting to see if Gostisbehere actually plays out his deal in Arizona, or is actually flipped at some point to a contender at a lesser cost.
This story originally referenced a tweet from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet that indicated the picks were going to Philadelphia.
So the Coyotes are trading a 2nd rounder for a player who was on waivers and could have been had for nothing…this is why they are in an eternal rebuild
no Lebrun said Arizona got the picks
Never mind. Friedman reported it wrong.
Getting a second round pick for someone who would probably have gotten into half the games is nice work from Chuck
Didn’t it say they gave Arizona the picks and “Flyers got nothing?” Seems like a cap dump and nothing else for Fletch
The flyers are sending the picks to the Coyotes so that they take the contract.
flyers got robbed then. 2 picks and ghost for nada. lol
I hate these types of trades. I feel the league should make it mandatory that something or someone comes back the other way. Just seems silly.
Flyers get nothing? Huh ?
Cleared cap space but wow, giving up a player with a 2nd and a 7th. So now how much did you really give up just to get Ellis
Ellis and cap space for ghost, Patrick, Myers and 2 picks. I’d make that trade
you are allowed to make trades where you get nothing back? I mean at the very least az should send a 7th just to make it look like an actual trade.
is it even a trade if something isn’t going back from the other side.
This is and the Ladd deals are the first times I’ve seen it. Normally you have future considerations or a conditional 7th…something.
They should have to get something. A conditional 7th round pick if Gostisbehere scores a million goals next year. Upgraded to a 6th round pick if he flys to Mars on a hang glider. Something.
I thought the least that could be sent back was 1$ and they would call it cash considerations, hilarious reading “trading x y z for nothing” though so I’m a big fan
Seattle fans must be over the moon that their GM left so many quality players on the board so they could have the cap space to make move like this. These are the types of moves that you leave that space for, so clearly Seattle made this deal and everyone is just misreporting it as Arizona.
What are you smoking there, dude?
Wow. You have to think something similar to this was offered to Francis. He really stuck to his guns on the ask for salary dumps if that wasn’t enough to take Ghost
I get that he needed to move on but you gave up a second and got literally nothing. Damn, teams are going wild today.
Great job Francis, teams doing the deals he could have been a part of and stacked picks.
what the actual hell Chuck
Bro you are just surprised or blown away by like everything smh sit down
um, okay then. why do you care?
The NHL is just making up their own rules (more than normal) lately.
So, you can trade Ladd or Gostisbehere AND a bunch of draft picks for NOTHING. Literally nothing. An empty ledger on one side of the trade.
But, if Seattle drafted Price and traded him back to Montreal retaining salary in a mutually agreeable exchange of assets where each side gets SOMETHING, they say that is cap circumvention.
Makes no sense.
you wanna trade GMs? Hextall is bad, but I dont think he’d do something this asinine.
Is it better to lose two good players for nothing or to pay to get rid of a guy you did not want? I don’t actually think this is a super bad move for PHI, it’s just weird to get nothing and how far Gostibehere’s game has fallen.
I want next Penguins season to begin with Jim Rutherford in the shower and we find out the whole thing was a dream*.
I currently have a skeptical “you better have a plan, Dumb***” stance towards Hextall, but I dunno…I’ve never once thought Fletcher was good as a GM. Ken Holland keeps resetting the “it could be worse” bar for all of them, though.
*Four or five people should get this…
It’s either an ancient Dallas reference, or you’re hot to see Jim Rutherford’s glistening wrinkled body in the shower. I hope it’s the former! ;-)
Even if the NHL made them give something up, it would be a 7th round pick so inconsequential. Teams are mutually agreeing to give up nothing for a bad contract tied to draft picks. Price to Seattle and back to MTL is clearly circumventing the cap. Negotiating a trade based on getting that player back is clearly bad.
Hextall is the one who caused the cap hit to begin with lol.g
No doubt “future considerations” is going the Flyers’ way.
That’s how nhl.com reports it, as it happens.
@darkside. Why is this asinine? The flyers got much needed cap relief. That’s what they got in return. With the situation they are in; and considering Seattle didn’t take any of the bigger contracts, fletch has a lot of work to do and some tough decisions ahead. Give the man some time
this dude has been a scapegoat for years while others much more underperformed, and we had to give up a 2nd for a contract that I personally dont believe is an overpay.
$4.5 million for a defensive liability isn’t a smart pay either. Scapegoated for who? He’s a bottom 6 defenseman who can score you a goal and run a power play. That does have value, just not in Philly anymore. I’ll take Ryan Ellis and cap relief for 3 sub par players and 2 draft picks any day
@DarkSide830 – There’s still time left before the sun burns out, so maybe Hexy’s planning something truly epic…
@forwhomjoshbelltolled – Two and counting, so far…a thumbs up is owed from the other guy…
what do u mean the Flyers get nothing?? we gave Arz. Ghost and 2 picks. WTF
It should be worded that they gave up two picks to get Ghost and his salary off the team… money far more valuable than what he was doing for that team. This should also excite as this clear dump should be a good show that Cam York being your second line defenseman this season
@forwhom – Interesting you bring up ‘Pam’ in a thread involving a ‘Gost’. I admit to being one of the four or five.
Kings should have taken the Ghost!
Not surprising at all. The Flyers get much needed cap relief. Ghost’s days were numbered for a while. Acquiring Ellis and York waiting in the wings only cemented it
So obviously the flyers needed the cap space, but why not waive Ghost again and hope a team grabs him? I know they tried this before and no one claimed him but wouldn’t they still save the majority of his cap hit by doing so? Did they really need to toss in the picks to save that extra little bit of cap? Can’t imagine the flyers locker room will be a cheery place after this offseason
The Flyers were awful last season. Who cares if the room is cheery or not? This team cannot compete with the better teams in the conference and Fletcher knows that. He’s trying to do something.
I would imagine the players care? They already don’t show up most nights so if the locker room gets infected with negativity then they all might as well get dumped for nothing just like Ghost. Your response did not help me or others understand why they would not just waive him?
They have cap space for free agents now whereas if they waited to waive him and maybe trade him after his cap hit would be on the books all summer and they’d have less room to add
Ahh okay now that makes sense thank you!
Guys, some of you are forgetting that unpopular, but sometimes used strategy called “Trade for Cap Space.” It is always preferred to get a usable asset (player) in return (duh, right?), but sometimes it just comes down to trading for that space. And, it often results in the justified criticism of the GM for not trying hard enough to get a real player (or more) back. Some GMs don’t have the appetite to grind it out with another GM, and just take a somewhat lazy way out.
Doesn’t there have to be consideration from both parties to consummate a trade?
Fletcher is obviously up to something. He’s cleared $4.5 mil in salary cap space, added a legit first pairing d-man, ditched two d-men who don’t play d, ditched a center who had nine points in 52 games and a-30 plus/minus. The 2022 draft picks traded were really the price to make this happen. The Flyers are way ahead this off-season. Fletcher, obviously, isn’t done yet. So far, so good.
Voice of reason my friend
How would you like to be Ghost. You are considered so worthless by your team and the league that they were not willing to waive you, not willing to just find a team to trade for you, but had to pay a hefty price just to get rid of you and didn’t even bother to ask that the receiving team cover the cup of coffee they drank while signing.
Give me that contract and I’ll tell you how it feels
Have to sacrifice if you want to dump a contract. Flyers did. Armstrong is loading up on draft picks. They can have all the draft picks they want. But you have to draft well to make them payoff.
The Flyers off-season is a mess. They traded away a bunch of draft picks and players in two trades and received a questionable defenseman from the Sabres.