Flyers Top Prospect to Make NHL Debut Tonight vs. Red Wings

Flyers general manager Ron Hextall was as patient as possible.

He didn't choose any of his promising, young defensive prospects for the final roster. He didn't recall any of them when Braydon Coburn went down, instead rolling with six defensemen.

When Andrew MacDonald went down, and is expected to miss the next month, with a foot injury, Hextall simply couldn't wait any longer.

Shayne Gostisbehere, the Flyers' most NHL-ready defensive prospect, has been recalled and will make his NHL debut against the Detroit Red Wings Saturday night.

"In a perfect world, you let a kid stay there and play," Hextall said, "but we don't live in a perfect world so one of them has to come up."

Gostisbehere was a healthy scratch with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms Friday before what would have been his fourth game of the season. Instead, he packed his bags and drove to Philly. In his first three, which came last weekend, he had a pair of assists. It's not a big sample size for the Flyers to have evaluated whom they wanted to bring up.