Breaking: Flyers surprisingly scratch one of their top stars ahead of tonight's game.

This is a very curious move.

The Philadelphia Flyers, or more specifically their head coach Dave Hakstol, have made the decision to scratch one of their top players prior to their upcoming match up against the Winnipeg Jets.

TSN's Frank Seravalli received confirmation from Hakstol that defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere would in fact be a healthy scratch although the motivation behind the move remains unclear. 

As a general rule this is a tactic used to send a message to a player about the coach's unhappiness, but Gostisbehere continues to be an important part of the Flyers line up, and with 10 points from the blue line through 17 games this season it's hard to see how such an extreme measure would be warranted.

There may be more behind the scenes here that we are not privy to.

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