Florida Panthers: The best landing spots for Keith Yandle with end in sight

2. Philadelphia Flyers

Now, the Philadelphia Flyers are one of two teams attracting a lot of buzz when it comes to the Keith Yandle sweepstakes, but I’m not mad about the fit given that the Flyers already boast a plethora of puck-moving defensemen who can jump up into the play and contribute on the power play. I mean, Erik Gustafsson, who signed a one-year $3 million deal in the offseason, contributed two power play assists in the Flyers’ Opening Night win over the Pittsburgh Penguins and he looks a pretty nice fit.

However, the only way I can see this working is if the Flyers send Shayne Gostisbehere to the Florida Panthers as part of a package. After all, Gostisbehere has endured a couple of down years for Philadelphia and a change of scenery could work perfectly. He recorded just 12 points (5 G, 7 A) in 42 regular-season games last year, while the defenseman also put up 37 points (9 G, 28 A) in 2018-19 after recording a career-high 65 points the year before.

Gostisbehere would certainly give that Panthers defense a different dynamic while Yandle could then slot into a top-four role for the Flyers, while perhaps quarterbacking the second power play unit and providing some depth scoring for a team that is quite clearly on the cusp of being a legit contender.

Plus, Yandle did play for Flyers Head Coach Alain Vigneault in New York with the Rangers and was also a teammate of Kevin Hayes in The Big Apple, so a reunion with those two would certainly make sense and it would make the transition a lot easier given that Vigneault knows exactly what he would be getting in Yandle. If the Philadelphia Flyers can package Shayne Gostisbehere as part of any trade with the Florida Panthers, then Keith Yandle would be a nice piece for a team that maybe only needs one or two more impact players to go on a real run.