Shayne Gostisbehere nearing return, thinking this is not ‘a lost year’

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Shayne Gostisbehere is banking on one piece of advice he’s gotten the past couple of months being true: “The biggest part of an injury like this is mental.”

That’s what Lehigh Valley Phantoms teammate Austin Fyten told him about recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament, an injury Fyten suffered in 2011.

Gostisbehere believes it.

That’s why the smooth-skating defenseman, arguably the Flyers’ most prized prospect, isn’t freaking out that when he returns to the game in a couple weeks he may not be the same skater.

“Of course, right now as we speak, I’m not the best skater out there,” Gostisbehere said Friday night as he watched the Phantoms play the Binghamton Senators. “I’m a little sore right now. Thankfully I’m not a basketball, football or soccer player. The ice is more forgiving.”

Before last Nov. 7, the worst injury Gostisbehere suffered was a strained hip flexor. That night in Manchester, N.H., Gostisbehere never got to meet up with his buddies from his hometown in Florida because he was hurt.

“I faked a slapshot and went around and passed it to the front and I admired my pass,” Gostisbehere recalled, “and the guy pushed my back shoulder. I fell into the boards, and I guess I hit my knee on the boards.”

And tore his left ACL.

“I didn’t feel a pop. I didn’t feel anything,” Gostisbehere said. “I thought it was a stinger and I tried to stand up and it wasn’t happening.”

That was Gostisbehere’s fifth game for the Phantoms this season. He had been recalled by the Flyers in late October and played two games before being sent back.

“Devastating,” Phantoms coach Terry Murray said. “Devastating for me, the team, for him. He’s starting to get his legs under himself, he’s contributing, he’s an important player for us because of his high skill level, skating ability.”

Just in the past week or so, Gostisbehere started skating with his Phantoms teammates instead of rehabbing in Philadelphia. Since he still has some inflammation, he laces up the boots every other day, putting in lower-body workouts in the gym on days he doesn’t skate. Rinse and repeat for four hours, six days a week.

“I wouldn’t look at it as a lost year,” said the 21-year-old defenseman, who is expected to return to the lineup early next month. “You get to see things being up in Philly being up in the press box. You see things you’ve never seen before. I’ve never watched games from up that high.

“I wouldn’t call it a lost year. I would say it’s more an educational year.”

Gostisbehere was usually sitting with player development coach Kjell Samuelsson, being told to watch players that play similar games to him like Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson or the Flyers’ own Mark Streit.

The Flyers would have loved for him to be under the tutelage of veteran Kimmo Timonen, who is rehabbing himself to return to playing shape after blood clots kept him from starting his season on time.

“Too bad he’s not here now,” Timonen said after a skate last week. “I could have probably seen more and taught him more now because skating with him on the ice and that kind of stuff, I probably could tell him something. I could have learned something about him because I don’t really know him. I’ve only seen him play two games.”

Murray has seen way more than two games of Gostisbehere, including film of him with Union College, when he was plus-7 in the Dutchmen’s 7-4 championship win over Minnesota last April.

The 64-year-old Murray says Gostisbehere reminds him of Hall of Fame blueliners Paul Coffey, ex-juniors-teammate Denis Potvin and four-time All-Star Al Iafrate.

“He’s not Paul Coffey. Let’s get that straight,” Murray said. “He’s not, but he has skills and ability that bring those players to my mind, players that I have coached.”

Drawing comparisons to those kind of players makes the Flyers lick their chops, but Murray knows that Gostisbehere’s defense needs work for him to be the kind of player the Flyers hope he can be.

“No, it’s not good enough and that’s the part we’ve got to work on,” Murray said. “That’s the part where it’s unfortunate that he’s injured right now and he’s missing this kind of learning year for him. He’s gonna get better at that.”

There is undeniable pressure on Gostisbehere to be the first homegrown Flyers defenseman to stay in the organization since Chris Therien. An injury claiming four months of progress could make it hard on him making the NHL roster next season.

“I guess you could say that, but my goal will be to make the team out of camp,” Gostisbehere said. “If not, there’s a good reason why. I haven’t played a lot. I’ve been injured most of the year, so if I get sent down here (to the AHL), I’ll do everything in my power to get back up.”

That’s eight months away. Meantime, Gostisbehere is trying to remember what Fyten told him about being strong mentally.

“You’ve got to stay positive,” Gostisbehere said. “Injuries are lows and highs. You’ve just gotta keep going. One day you could feel like a million bucks, and the next day you feel kinda crappy. But again it’s about staying positive. They told me that, so I’ve got to keep truckin’ along here.”

Reach Dave Isaac at disaac

@courierpostonline.com.

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