At the end of the 2017-18 season, it looked like Shayne Gostisbehere had emerged as a top-pairing defenceman for the Philadelphia Flyers. Having just started a six-year contract with a $4.5-million AAV, Gostisbehere’s 65-point campaign made him one of the great bargains in the league, and even earned him more Norris Trophy votes than Erik Karlsson.
A year later, Gostisbehere is coming off his worst full season as an NHL player. Removed from the top pairing with Ivan Provorov after only seven games, the Florida-native accumulated only 37 points in 78 games while watching his name surface in trade rumours at the deadline and enduring a late-season benching for Samuel Morin.