Shayne Gostisbehere became a student of the game.
The 24-year-old defenseman, who signed a six-year, $27-million extension with the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday, learned lessons that should help him live up to his newly minted contract during his third NHL season.
After notching 46 points and finishing second in Calder Trophy voting as a rookie in 2015-16, Gostisbehere took a step back in his sophomore campaign, sliding to 39 points despite playing in 12 more games.
On five occasions in that second season, coach Dave Hakstol scratched Gostisbehere - breathers that gave the young defenseman the opportunity to better understand the NHL level.
"A lot of players are handed unlimited ice time, unlimited roles, because all the way up they are the best player on their team," general manager Ron Hextall said in a conference call. "There are lessons that a lot of them have to go through as pros and 'Ghost' went through some of those last year. He's clearly going to be a better player because of it.
"Sometimes there is a little bit of tough love and Shayne got a little bit of tough love last year. I think if you asked him now he would think it's not necessarily a bad thing. Every player gets disappointed at some point in their career and you need to learn to deal with it."
Despite the down season, Gostisbehere led all Philadelphia blue-liners in scoring, while averaging 19:35 of ice time, third among Flyers' defensemen. With a new contract in hand, he now sits behind only Andrew MacDonald as the team's second-highest paid defenseman.
As far as the Flyers are concerned, it's money well spent, trusting that Gostisbehere will continue to grow as a player.
"You can't get the best of your people if a young player thinks, 'I'm in the lineup 82 games no matter what, no matter how I play,'" Hextall added. "If they've got to go through a little adversity, they've got to go through it.
"We all know his upside ... He certainly fits into our vision moving forward."
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