It's been five games for Shayne Gostisbehere, but I've seen enough.
The Flyers should not return the 22-year-old rookie defenseman to the minors after Mark Streit returns from injury, or for any other reason for that matter.
It's not just because he happens to have more goals scored than the reigning leading goal-scorer on the team, two to Jake Voracek's one. There is so much more to his game that warrants him staying at this level.
Gostisbehere is not without his flaws. He still has issues in the defensive zone that will get him scored on and lose puck battles. For as good as he's been with his outlet passes and skating in the first five games, he's bound to have a miscue, a rookie mistake, strike sooner or later.
And that's okay. He's 22. He's a kid. He's going to have to learn sometime.
Sometimes the best method of learning is to fail at the highest level of competition.
Ron Hextall's been preaching patience, and you still see that to this day. Aside from Gostisbehere, only Scott Laughton, Brandon Manning and Taylor Leier spent any time with the Phantoms last season and were considered prospects by the Flyers. It is part of the reason that with Sam Gagner looking all but out for tomorrow night's game in Brooklyn, Colin McDonald got the call, not Petr Straka, who is currently one of the AHL's leading scorers.
The reason is that Gostisbehere, who is already getting an average of 18:05 ice time, will stay is because the Flyers have an active use for him. He's playing significant minutes. He is quarterback of the top power-play unit and making the transition there seamless.
What Gostisbehere may also be meant to do is be a trailblazer for the remaining players that the Flyers are waiting for. Whether that comes next season, certainly possible with prospects like Ivan Provorov, Travis Konecny, Sam Morin and Robert Hagg, or in the very near future after, remains to be seen.
But the Flyers can not create excitement for all of these players and then, in one fell swoop, unleash them to the NHL. There will be too much of a learning curve and the expectations will be too great for them to all succeed the way fans are hoping.
And for now, with Gostisbehere not missing a beat and easily showing he is better — flaws and all — than some of the defensemen that have played the entire season, it is worth not only keeping him around to learn, but giving him the chance to learn while giving fans a reason to get excited.
Because for 167:54, much of the last week of play for the Flyers, there was no reason to get excited, even with Gostisbehere on the ice.
Fans are enamored with his shot, and it's a good one no doubt. He's as pure a skater as you'll find for a defenseman. He can command the offensive zone and has been effective enough in the defensive zone to make up for some of the rather lackluster performances of other defensemen this season.
No, Gostisbehere is not going to save the season or help the Flyers avoid another high draft pick, and the Flyers can't grab every promising player from the minors and try to get better instantly, especially when so many of those players would be completely unproven and learning on the spot in the NHL.
But they also need someone to set the tone for the rest of the prospects and young players to come, someone that carries the excitement from Day 1 and carries it throughout his time with the team.
For Gostisbehere to have a year under his belt when some of the others join would be incredibly beneficial to the Flyers. Being a young veteran holds a lot of weight. Gostisbehere, who already has the poise and demeanor of a veteran, would fit right in there too.
Kevin Durso is managing editor for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on Twitter @Kevin_Durso.
