Dave Isaac

@davegisaac

Shayne Gostisbehere gets a kick out of the text messages.

His friends send them all the time cheering him on for all his success in the NHL in his rookie season, pumping him up and wondering if maybe, just maybe, he can be the first Flyers player to win a Calder Trophy as the league’s best rookie.

Those texts lead to general manager Ron Hextall’s fear as it relates to young players getting to the NHL. Hextall has a few other young defensemen like Gostisbehere on their way up to the big club and he’d rather be patient with them.

Gostisbehere skipped a couple steps, with only five games in the American Hockey League last season and 14 this season between his careers in the NCAA and NHL.

What if one of those other young defenseman sees Gostisbehere’s path and thinks it’s easy? What if it causes them to develop an ego?

“I’ve got a good support system with my family and friends who will never let me get a big head,” Gostisbehere said, “and I’ve definitely got a stubborn mom who definitely won’t let me get a big head.”

So far the 22-year-old defenseman has given Hextall nothing to worry about in that regard. He leads rookie blueliners in points with 22. St. Louis’ Colton Parayko is only three points behind him, but he’s also played 20 more games than Gostisbehere.

Is this the second coming of Michal Neuvirth?

The closest a Flyer has ever come to winning the Calder was Hextall in the 1986-87 season when he finished 18 votes shy of Luc Robitaille (Steve Vickers topped Bill Barber by 29 points in 1973). Hextall won the Vezina Trophy, though, as the league’s best goalie.

It would take a rather dominant last 35 games for Gostisbehere to move ahead of the likes of Chicago’s Artemi Panarin or Detroit’s Dylan Larkin.

“We'll let it play out the rest of the year, but I think in training camp, we didn't think he was quite ready for this level,” Hextall said earlier this month. “If we were to put in him there then, he might now be where he is now. But we're happy with him.”

The rest of the league isn’t pleased they have to game-plan for a rookie defenseman, but that’s the effect Gostisbehere has had on the Flyers.

“He’s like a lot of these other young guys. They’ve got no fear of making plays,” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said about Gostisbehere in December. “They’ve got no fear of the position. I think in years past you used to think, ‘Well, a guy’s got to be 26, 27 before he can be a regular player.’ Now it’s the other way around we’ve got defensemen who are 22, 23 years old that can play in the league. It just seems the coaching at college and junior level is way more advanced.”

“Really dynamic. There’s a lot of (two-time Norris Trophy winner) Erik Karlsson in him,” Washington coach Barry Trotz added last week. “His skating is dynamic. He can really bomb the puck for a little guy. I shouldn’t say he’s little, he’s what 6 foot or 5-11. But he’s really dynamic and he really supports the attack. He’s a part of the attack; he sometimes leads the attack. He’s got a lot of deception to his game. He’ll fake like he’s dropping the puck and continue on. ... Good young player. He’s one of those players that the league has changed a little bit in the last few years.”

After winning a national championship with Union College, Gostisbehere decided to turn pro. Last year he spent most of his season watching from the press box due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. His numbers so far this season are terrific, but a Calder Trophy isn’t something he’s thinking about.

“I try not to look too much into that,” Gostisbehere said. “It happened a little bit in college with the Hobey (Baker Award) race and everything so I’ve had a little experience with it before. It’s just a different level, of course. Just stay within yourself and stay humble and remember what got you here.”

While Gostisbehere’s mentality is one that Hextall would approve of, his teammates recognize that the youngster has a huge affect on the team.

“He seems to be handling it well,” said Sam Gagner, who finished seventh in Calder voting in 2008. “Obviously there’s a lot of pressure that comes with that, especially it being your first year on this stage. I feel like he’s getting better and better. He plays with a lot of confidence out there and it shows. He’s playing really well for us. He makes our team a lot better just with the element that he brings.”

All the questions about the Calder race and trying to extrapolate his first 29 games into a full season can get a little annoying to Gostisbehere, but he takes it in stride. He answers patiently and diplomatically and doesn’t mind those text messages from his friends, either.

“They’re just happy and happy for me to see how far I’ve come,” Gostisbehere said. “It’s definitely cool, but it doesn’t stop here, of course. You don’t want short-term success. You want long-term success, so that’s what sticks out in my mind.”

Dave Isaac; (856) 486-2479;disaac@gannettnj.com.

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