Shayne Gostisbehere
Shayne Gostisbehere, is an American professional ice hockey player who is a defenseman for the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League.
Gostisbehere was born in Pembroke Pines, Florida, and began playing hockey with the youth affiliate of the Florida Panthers. Halfway through high school, he transferred from Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Florida to South Kent School in South Kent, Connecticut. From there, he moved to Schenectady, New York, where he played three seasons of college ice hockey with the Union Dutchmen of the ECAC Hockey conference, helping to take the team to their first NCAA championship title in 2014. Gostisbehere was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, and was a finalist for the 2014 Hobey Baker Award. During this time, he helped take the United States national junior team to a gold medal at the 2013 World Junior Championships.
The Flyers selected Gostisbehere in the third round, 78th overall, of the 2012 NHL entry draft, and he signed an entry-level contract with the team in 2014. After only a handful of appearances with the Flyers and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Adirondack Phantoms, Gostisbehere suffered an ACL tear that benched him for most of the 2014–15 season. That fall began a record-breaking season for Gostisbehere, whose 15-game point streak was the longest of any rookie defenseman in the NHL. He became the youngest Flyer to receive the Barry Ashbee Trophy for best team defenseman, and was a runner-up for the Calder Memorial Trophy. That summer, he represented Team North America at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. After a lackluster sophomore season, a successful pairing with fellow two-way defenseman Ivan Provorov for most of the 2017–18 season helped Gostisbehere secure his second Barry Ashbee Trophy in three years.
From that point, a recurring knee injury began to impact Gostisbehere's career. He was initially injured in October 2019 during a game against the Colorado Avalanche, and dropped from 65 points the year prior to only 37 points in the 2018–19 season. An acute injury to the knee in January 2020 forced Gostisbehere to undergo arthroscopy, and his performance continued to suffer when he was brought back prematurely from the surgery. Gostisbehere underwent a second arthroscopic surgery during the NHL's COVID-19 shutdown and helped the Flyers advance over the Montreal Canadiens in the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs. He struggled to find a rhythm the following year, after missing the first six games of the season to COVID-19, and was further limited by a placement on waivers, another knee injury, and a two-game suspension that May. Difficulties managing the salary cap imposed by the NHL for the 2021–22 season forced the Flyers to trade Gostisbehere to Arizona in July 2021. He signed a three-year, $9.6 million contract with the Carolina Hurricanes on July 1, 2024.
Early life and education
Gostisbehere was born on April 20, 1993, in Pembroke Pines, Florida. His father Regis was Basque, born in the French Basque Country, but moved to Florida in the hopes of becoming a professional jai alai player. It was there that he met Gostisbehere’s mother, Christine, who was working at the local jai alai venue. When Gostisbehere was two years old, his father suffered a career-ending eye injury. Gostisbehere’s sister was a figure skater, and he would accompany her at the local ice rink, which sparked his interest in ice hockey. His maternal grandfather, Denis Brodeur, was a Québécois hockey player for a traveling hockey league based in West Palm Beach, Florida, and he began teaching his grandson how to skate when Gostisbehere was three years old.The Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League began playing six months before Gostisbehere was born, and he learned how to ice skate at the Panthers' training facility in Coral Springs, Florida. While skating with the Junior Panthers under-18 'AAA' ice hockey team, Gostisbehere helped to win the Presidents' Day AAA Challenge championship in 2007. As an adolescent, Gostisbehere spent two years at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Rather than play for the school hockey team, which was less competitive than he desired, Gostisbehere played on traveling teams before transferring to South Kent School, a boarding school in Connecticut, to finish his high school education and continue his hockey career.
College career
After being passed over in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, Gostisbehere chose to play college ice hockey for Union College in the ECAC Hockey conference. His first collegiate point came on October 22, 2011, with an assist in Union's 5–0 shutout win over the Rochester Institute of Technology. On December 10, he scored his first collegiate goal as part of a 5–2 victory over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at the Festivus Faceoff in Lake Placid, New York. Gostisbehere earned ECAC Rookie of the Week honors at the start of February, when he matched a school record by scoring four assists in a 4–4 tie against Cornell. He finished his freshman season with five goals and 17 assists in 41 games, and was named to both the 2011–12 ECAC Hockey All-Rookie Team and the All-Tournament Team.The Philadelphia Flyers selected Gostisbehere in the third round, 78th overall, of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. He was the seventh Union men's hockey player ever drafted, and the first ever defenseman. Rather than sign with the team immediately, Gostisbehere chose to stay with Union and continue to play college hockey. He had a breakout 2012–13 season, averaging a point per game in his first 13 outings. Gostisbehere scored eight goals and 18 assists in 36 collegiate games during his sophomore season, and was named to both the All-ECAC Hockey Second Team and to the ACHA All-America East Second Team. At the 2013 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament, Gostisbehere scored one of Union's three power play goals in a 5–1 upset of reigning champions Boston College. Union's tournament run came to an end in the following game, when Matthew Peca scored a hat trick in the first three minutes and 12 seconds of the East Regional finals, buoying Quinnipiac to a 5–1 victory.
As a junior during the 2013–14 season, Gostisbehere continued to dominate offensively, scoring 15 points in the first 13 games of the year. In addition to scoring four goals and 13 assists in 22 ECAC games, Gostisbehere improved his defensive ability, finishing the regular season with a +18 plus-minus rating. For his performance, Gostisbehere was named both the ECAC Hockey Co-Player of the Year, alongside St. Lawrence senior Greg Carey, and Best Defensive Defenseman. He was also named to the All-ECAC and ACHA First Teams, and to both the ECAC Hockey and the NCAA East Regional All-Tournament teams. Gostisbehere additionally came in first in fan voting for the 2014 Hobey Baker Award, given to the top college hockey player in the US, and was named a top-10 finalist for the trophy. The award ultimately went to Johnny Gaudreau of Boston College.
Also as a junior, Gostisbehere helped lead Union to their first-ever NCAA championship. In the championship game at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, home of the team that drafted him, Gostisbehere scored one goal and two assists in a 7–4 victory over Minnesota. It was Union's fourth ever NCAA tournament appearance, and their first championship, and Gostisbehere was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player for his championship performance.
Professional career
Philadelphia Flyers
2014–2016
Following his NCAA championship run, Gostisbehere signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Flyers on April 15, 2014. He was first assigned to the Adirondack Phantoms, the team's American Hockey League affiliate. Gostisbehere joined the team for their final two games of the 2013–14 season, a 3–2 overtime loss to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on April 19, and a 2–1 loss to the Hershey Bears on April 20.Gostisbehere began the 2014–15 season with the Phantoms, but was recalled to the Flyers as a replacement for injured defensemen Braydon Coburn and Andrew MacDonald. Flyers general manager Ron Hextall intended for Gostisbehere’s call-up to be temporary as he searched for a veteran free agent to replace the injured skaters. Gostisbehere made his NHL debut on October 25, 2014, pairing with Luke Schenn in a 4–2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. He was moved back to the Phantoms on November 1, to make room on the 23-player active roster for the newly-healthy Vincent Lecavalier. On November 7, in his second game back in the AHL, Gostisbehere took a check from Kevin Raine of the Manchester Monarchs and felt a “pop” in his knee, later diagnosed as an anterior cruciate ligament injury. He did not play again that year, registering only five AHL and two NHL games in his first professional hockey season.
That summer, Gostisbehere worked with Flyers athletic trainer Jim McCrossin, who focused on rehabilitating the skater’s entire body rather than focusing on the injured knee. He impressed at training camp, scoring three goals in three preseason games, but an uneven defensive performance led head coach Dave Hakstol to send Gostisbehere to the Phantoms for the beginning of the 2015–16 season. There, he recorded 10 points in 14 games before receiving another NHL call-up on November 14, 2015. He scored his first NHL point that same day, assisting in Wayne Simmonds’ game-tying goal in an ultimate 3–2 overtime win against the Carolina Hurricanes. His first goal came three days later, less than four minutes into a 3–2 shootout victory over the Los Angeles Kings. His second and third NHL goals both came in overtime games, making Gostisbehere the first rookie in Flyers history to score multiple overtime goals in the same season.
On February 13, 2016, Gostisbehere scored his 10th goal of the season in the third period of a 2–1 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils. It was the 11th game in a row that he had registered a point, passing Barry Beck's 1978 record for the longest point streak of any rookie defenseman. On February 20, Gostisbehere became the first rookie in NHL history to score four overtime goals in one season when he helped defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5–4. His 15-game point streak ended after that game, as he failed to register a point in the Flyers' 3–1 loss to the Hurricanes. Gostisbehere's point run was the third-longest of any rookie since 1988, and was the longest of any defenseman since Chris Chelios scored points 15 games in a row for the Chicago Blackhawks in 1995. Gostisbehere finished his rookie NHL season with 17 goals and 29 assists, and he became the youngest ever recipient of the Barry Ashbee Trophy, given to the Flyers' best defenseman. The Flyers also awarded Gostisbehere the Gene Hart Memorial Award, given to the player who demonstrates the most "heart". He was also the runner-up for the 2016 Calder Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to the top rookie in the NHL. Artemi Panarin of the Blackhawks ultimately won the award. Following the NHL Awards Show, Gostisbehere was officially named to the NHL All-Rookie Team for the 2015–16 season.