Much has been made of the depth of prospects the Flyers have put together defensively in the past few years. Shayne Gostisbehere has already taken the NHL by storm, and as many as five other young blueliners (Ivan Provorov, Travis Sanheim, Samuel Morin, Robert Hagg, and Phil Myers) who could reasonably be considered somewhere between "above-average" and "elite" defensive prospects.
To be sure, though, the team's defensive revolution of sorts began with Gostisbehere, an undersized but mobile and offensively talented NCAA defenseman taken in the third round of the 2012 draft. Two years later, Flyers fans watched Gostisbehere light up the Wells Fargo Center en route to a national championship at Union College, and knew then and there that they had a special one on their hands.