Photo Credit: Kyle Ross, USA TODAY Sports
For the Philadelphia Flyers one area of their roster that was a huge question mark heading into the 2023-24 regular season was their defensive corps.
The primary concern surrounding the Flyers defensive core containing the likes of Travis Sanheim, Cam York, Rasmus Ristolainen, Sean Walker, Nick Seeler, Egor Zamula and Marc Staal was if the group could adequately defend on a nightly basis and keep the puck out of their net.
Surprisingly enough the Philadelphia Flyers have bought into a team defense approach this season. Largely due to the tactics coaches John Tortorella and Brad Shaw are looking to implement in their defensive zone, as well as, the neutral zone.
Despite the worries surrounding a Flyers defense that initially looked like it did not have much depth, Philadelphia has been one of the most defensively sound clubs in the entire NHL so far this season.
Â
The Flyers have only allowed 81 goals against in 31 games played. This places them tied for 7th in the NHL with the New York Rangers for fewest goals allowed in the league. Along with that, Philadelphia allows 2.61 goals against per game and that’s tied for 6th lowest in the NHL with the Vegas Golden Knights. Coming into this season no media pundits expected the Flyers to be this stingy defensively, especially with the lineup they were going to be putting forth.
A major part of the defensive group that has contributed to the Flyers success is 22-year-old defenseman Cam York.
York had a few rough stretches to start the season and was even benched for a period when the Flyers took on the Los Angeles Kings on November 4th. However, the defender has worked through those struggles to become a mainstay on the Flyers top pairing with Travis Sanheim.Â
Check out our Flyers Nitty Gritty Store
Cool Matvei Michkov merchandise
He’s averaged 22:28 of time on ice per game this season which places him well above any other Flyers defenseman on the roster aside from the team’s number one option Travis Sanheim.
What’s most impressive about York’s play is that he’s been matched up against other team’s top lines for the majority of the season and has continued to play well. Even though York has received heavy usage against top talent in all situations his game has progressed both defensively and offensively this season.
Primarily on the defensive side of things York has shown the ability to keep opposing players to the perimeter with his stick work, positioning, and his gap control. With the ice time York has taken on and the level of competition he’s been tasked with defending he’s fared quite well in a top pairing role.
York did not have as much of an impact offensively the first 22 games of the 2023-24 season. Over that sample size the defenseman only scored three goals and four assists for seven total points.
As the season’s progressed his offensive production and confidence has increased. York’s notched two goals and registered three assists for a total of five points in his last nine games. Such production over the last nine game stretch is clearly outpacing the offense York produced throughout the first 22 games of the 2023-24 season.
One area the Flyers are likely looking for York to take the next step is on the power-play. During his USNTDP, college hockey, and AHL career York has always been known as a power-play quarterback. He’s shown the ability to be an effective facilitator for his teammates and create scoring opportunities for them with his vision on the man advantage.
Although York has two power-play assists over the last 9 games those are his only power-play points so far this season. Based on his skillset and history of producing on the man advantage at lower levels this is certainly an aspect of York’s game the Flyers will be looking to develop at the NHL level moving forward.
A specific statistic that highlights York’s impact at both ends of the ice is his five on five expected goals for, relative to NHL defenseman who are under 25 with 100 plus games played. York is currently second with a + 0.23 rating since the 2020 season (stat courtesy of @avappleyard on X).
What this cements is that when York is on the ice the Flyers are usually in control of the puck, playing in the opposition’s end, and creating sufficient scoring opportunities more often than not.
When considering the fact Cam York has been playing in a top pair role as a 22-year-old defenseman (by far the hardest position to play in the NHL) and succeeding, it only bodes well for the defender’s future. Typically, NHL defenseman reach their prime between the ages of 25-30. With York only being 22 and already playing so well in tough minutes the sky’s the limit for what his eventual ceiling may become.
The defender has already established himself as a reliable option on the first defensive pairing for the Flyers through the first 31 games of this season.
Dear flyersnittygritty.com admin, Your posts are always well-written and easy to understand.