The hits keep coming for the Philadelphia Flyers. Top defenseman Cam York was injured late in the team’s sixth-straight loss on Wednesday night in Washington and he’ll miss at least the next two weeks due to an upper-body injury.
York, 23, was drafted with the 14th overall pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. After spending a few years at the University of Michigan, York shuffled between the NHL and AHL until becoming a mainstay in the lineup last year. The young defenseman played in all 82 games last season with 30 points (10 goals, 20 assists) while averaging 22:37 of ice time.
York has developed into one of the team’s top defensemen alongside Travis Sanheim in recent years. He leads the team in ice time with an average of 22:56 per game through the first seven games of the season. The blueliner has picked up three points (two goals, one assist) thus far as well.
The injury to York is going to further test the Flyers’ defensive depth. Egor Zamula has struggled thus far and now York is out just a few games after Nick Seeler made his season debut.
While Erik Johnson will take York’s spot in the lineup on Saturday afternoon — with the pairs still to be determined –, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Flyers gave Emil Andrae another chance with the big club. Andrae joined the team on the season-opening road trip as a fail-safe in case of any injuries while the team was out west.
Andrae played four games with the Flyers last season, and put up 32 points in 61 games with the Phantoms.
However it shakes out, the Flyers are going to have to mix and match on defense with York leaving a big hole in the lineup. Philadelphia is scheduled to play eight games in the next two weeks, including some tough matchups against some of the top teams in the league. And the wording of “a minimum of two weeks” along with the fact that it’s an upper-body injury could mean an even longer absence.
