A little over four years ago, then-Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren made the command decision to infuse his organization with a jolt of much-needed young defensive talent. The move was understandable: the NHL blueline at the time was somewhere between barely-passable and a total mess, with no obvious high-end prospects forthcoming in the pipeline. Sure, Shayne Gostisbehere was in the organization (drafted in 2012), but he had yet to become Shayne Gostisbehere, and generally came with the reputation of an “intriguing sleeper” rather than that of a true blue-chip prospect.
So at the 2013 NHL Draft in New Jersey, Holmgren took not just one but two defensemen viewed as first-round talents.