A General Manager (GM) should always be looking to enhance his roster; you never know when a long-term injury will pop up (like what happened to Center Nolan Patrick and defenseman Sam Morin) or when an unforeseeable, life-changing event could happen (like what occurred to Flyers Winger Oskar Lindblom this season). When these type events arise, a resourceful GM like the Flyers own Chuck Fletcher knows you can’t hesitate to make a move: especially when your team is playoff bound. Most General Managers know that unless your winning back to back Stanley Cups every year you better not get complacent or your stint with that current team may be a short one. Luckily, Fletcher did not hesitate he came up with the ingenious idea to search beyond the NHL Draft to find raw talent at a minimum price; by way of the signing the Swedish Hockey League’s (SHL) rising star: 24-year-old Winger Linus Sandin; Who, without question, could step into a Top 9 role for the Flyers next season. This signing added some much-needed size, and scoring ability to the Wings.Â
Question: How can the Flyers continue this trend of acquiring NHL-ready talent that has not yet made the jump to the NHL? Answer: “Cashing in on other teams’ weaknesses.” The Dallas Stars are one team who find themselves facing quite the dilemma in the coming years. The Stars and their General Manager Jim Nill have trouble trusting youth in their lineup: so much so that they have 11 players on their current NHL roster that are over the age of 30! Two of whom are over the age of 35-years-old. Now, the Stars have proven to be a playoff team in recent years with their vastly experienced lineup. However, certain risks come with those Veteran players, like a longer recovery time from injuries, and the looming risk of an age-related plummet in ability and/or point production. Not to mention the cost of retaining these once great super stars. Needless to say, the Stars main focus is NOT on player development. It took parts of four seasons for the Stars to finally bring up Finnish forward Roope Hintz and Russian forward Denis Gurianov to the NHL on a full-time basis this season, and the cause of their delayed arrival wasn’t even the need for these players to further develop. Both of these players were early round selections for the Stars back in 2015, and have excelled playing at a high level for the team’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate the Texas Stars for the past four seasons. Â
With that being said, who would the Flyers try to acquire, and why would the Stars want to get rid of them if they are in fact in need of youth? The answer to the first part of that question would be forward Joel L’Esperance who currently plays for the AHL’s Texas Stars. He is a prospect whom the Stars acquired as an undrafted free agent after finishing an impressive four seasons while playing for the Michigan Tech Huskies of the NCAA. Â
Since signing a two-year deal with the Stars worth $722,500 a season, this now 24-year-old, who is 6’2″ and 208 pounds has been nothing, but a dominant force to be reckoned with in the AHL ranks. L’Esperance utilizes his extraordinary size and strength to get into position to unload his cannon-like wrist shot and his remarkable one-timers to pile up the points. Not to be labeled a one trick pony, L’Esperance (or Lespy as his teammates call him) has shown to be particularly strong on the puck, bullying his way through defenders and finding a place for himself on the ice, where he can make a crisp tape-to-tape pass to a line mate for a goal. With L’Esperance playing at such a high level this season he was rewarded by being selected to represent the Stars in the AHL All-Star Experience. With stats like these (shown below) it is hard to see just why the Stars haven’t made the space for Joel in their lineup already.Â
| Games Played in AHL | Goals | Assists | Points |
| 19’-20’ 58 | 25 | 15 | 40 |
| 18’-19’ 54 | 30 | 15 | 45 |
Dallas only utilized Joel in three games played this season when the team was desperate for help when injuries occurred. In those three games played, L’Esperance netted just one goal, but showed glimpses of that GRITTY style of play that he brings on a nightly basis.
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Why would the Stars be willing to part with such a talent? The answer to that is: At some point (in the very near future) the Stars will be forced to find a roster full of quality replacements to fill the holes left behind by their aging Veterans. One or two players will not be enough to fill these voids when this mass exodus of players occurs. So, the Stars would benefit from losing one player, Joel L’Esperance (who is a restricted free agent this off season, is deserving of a raise, but whose growth is presently being hindered by an abundance of salary-cap restricting, inflated contracts for players well past their prime), in order to gain multiple talented prospects or potential draft picks back in return.Â
Now what most of you are probably thinking is that the Flyers should not give up any prospects in order to gain another player. However, the team is in uncharted territory, and the Flyers have so many quality prospects that now they have no roster spots in order to sign them. At this point, the team is forced to just let them walk. Case in point- the talented Swedish defenseman David Bernhardt (who the Flyers drafted in the 7th round of the 2016 NHL Draft), who the Flyers no longer have the rights to for that reason. Â
This will continue to happen if Chuck Fletcher does not find a way to unload some of his team’s prospects. Now, to think that Chuck (who took on this role not too long ago) is in love with every prospect the team had in the system before his arrival and is not looking to free up some space in order to be able to sign some of his own players he recently drafted would be foolish. That’s why Fletcher would be wise to kill two birds with one stone by making room to sign (or upgrade) players by purging some of the team’s lesser prospects (who they are not in love with) pairing them with possible future draft picks that might be necessary to get a deal done. By doing this they would not only acquire a proven AHL talent (Joel L’Esperance) that is just waiting for a real chance to prove himself at the next level; The Flyers would then also be making room for more talented prospects already in their system (or ones still yet to come) that can now be signed to a entry level contract.
Interesting points. The Flyers do need grit and muscle on the wing and L’Esperance looks perfect to fill that role. I would trade Cam York for him. York, last year’s Flyer’ first round draft pick, is a highly skilled defenseman who is too small to play in the NHL anytime soon, maybe ever. Because he was an outstanding player for Team USA with Jack Hughes, Joel Farabee, Quinn Hughes etc, he looked great, but without them in the last U-20 World juniors, he looked barely visible and wound up being Team USA’ 7th defenseman. York would be the perfect bait to get L’Esperance away from Dallas.
That would be a huge mistake. Outside of Frost, York is the Flyers best prospect. The kid has NHL in his future. May even be a top pairing and power play quarterback type player. You don’t give that up for a bottom six winger. Bill Meltzer has York as the top Flyer prospect right now.
And yeah, he was the youngest defender on that world team. He will be running the U20 power play and on the top pair next year.
I can’t believe the suggestion to trade York. If you’re trading York, it’s part of a package to land someone who is an elite top line player, which isn’t a realistic option with the expansion draft coming up. The Flyers will more than likely be losing a defenseman in that draft, so that makes York even more valuable. Now if it were say Robert Hagg or Sam Morin, I’d be more inclined to move one of them for Lesperance.
Yes. That makes more sense.
Gregg, your assessment of York is off by a good bit. This guy is the real deal. He has the talent to be ghost and to shut down top lines. There was a reason that the Flyers passed on Cole C. In the draft to get York. He is legit.
Gentlemen you all make vaild points. I don’t think York will get traded simply because he’s a guy that Chuck just drafted himself. It would be like saying he thinks he made a mistake in his 1st draft. However, although I do think York has potential, he did not impress me this yr at Michigan. He’s still young and will continue to develop. I was thinking that the Flyers should get rid of some guys that are all ready under contract in the AHL and ECHL that AREN’T named Frost or Ratcliffe. The idea of this article was to free up availability to sign players. Trading un-signed players won’t help us. It would obviously take more then just them to get a deal done, but they should be the main starting point. No way should we trade Hagg!
Thank you all for reading my post and responding to my thoughts on Cam York, but let’s look at the facts and why York’s trade value is never going to be higher than it is right now, before everyone realizes he is too small to ever play D in the NHL.
I watched York at last year’s Flyer’s development camp, then all of Team USA’s U-20 World Junior Champiomship games last winter, plus 3/4 of his games playing in Big 10 for Michigan. York is small and his height and weight appear less than listed in his profile.
Here are his positive skills:
Sees ice extremely well
Skates well, Great passer, anticipates play before it happens, finds open man with nearly every pass, outstanding on running point on PP, gets back on D quickly, good shot from point.
Here are his negatives:
Does not defend well in own end, poor at retrieving puck under pressure, bad along defensive boards versus bigger players, poor defending in crease against bigger players(which is pretty much every opposing forward), cannot defend on PK due to lack of size, uses a really small stick which makes him ineffective blocking cross ice passes and pushing opponent’s farther out in O zone.
Cam York looked really small at the Flyer’s development camp last year, especially next to other prospects. He did not get a lot of ice time for Team USA in the last U-20 World Junior Tournament playing the role of 7th defenseman, but was on the top PP unit which was pretty much all of his ice time(half of every PP)
This year at Michigan, he looked good offensively, but mediocre in his own end. He has trouble playing against physical forwards and if he can’t handle college physicality, he will definitely be eaten alive in the NHL. Hopefully York has a lot of growing to do, both in height and weight, but his upper body is really small.
I really like Wyatt Kalynuk, not Cam York, as a future Flyer defenseman. Kalynuk is two years older than York, but he is far and away better than York. Even a better pro style puck mover and he shows a lot of creativity on the ice, maybe a lot more than York, plus Kalynuk is outstanding defensively, especially retrieving and moving puck back up the ice.
To those of you who are enamored with York, I suggest you look at him the next time fans can attend and watch the Flyer’s prospects on the ice, at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. I loved Shayne Gostisbehere and still do, but York is smaller and as we know, the NHL is not kind to small defensemen. Small defensemen, who must avoid hits, turn the puck over.-Gregg Lorenz, Morrisville PA
PS, Robert Hagg is an asset. He is the Flyer’s most physical defenseman and his improvement and confidence continue to progress. He is becoming a shutdown defenseman vs top NHL players and lines