Flyers’ Cam York is having a confusing but effective season

When the Philadelphia Flyers took Cam York in the 2019 NHL Draft, there was a clear vision. He had quarterbacked the power play of the United States National Team Development Program alongside names like Cole Caufield and Trevor Zegras, and there was reason to think he\'d be effective at the NHL level. That\'s not how he\'s turned out, at least to this point. Now 25 years old, York may be what he ultimately is-- a 30-point, solid puck-moving defenseman who can slot into your second pairing on a contending team.

York\'s defensive impact

York is not a standout player most nights. This would be a problem if he was a forward, but you generally don\'t want to notice your defenders as it means they\'ve made a glaring mistake. He\'s been mostly fine, though the Flyers probably hoped for more of a \"breakout\" season from their prime-aged former first round pick.

Wading into his MoneyPuck numbers suggests the same: a 48 percent unblocked shot attempt share, about a 47 percent Expected Goals share, and 22:39 of top-pair time-on-ice per game. It does depend strongly on his defense partner-- the pairing with Travis Sanheim has much better numbers (and passes the eye test) than when he\'s with Jamie Drysdale. As those are really his only two pairings, York is probably sacrificing his offensive output to allow those two to do their thing and be a stabilizer on the back-end. Even so, he and Sanheim have the most minutes-- more than 250 minutes above the next closest pairing-- and are also the best by Expected Goals Against per 60 Minutes (2.08) on the team by a good margin. The Flyers defensively are most comfortable with Sanheim and York on the ice together.

Last year, his numbers were much worse . There was a lot of noise about a poor relationship with then-coach John Tortorella, but York\'s 2023-24 season was closer to 2025-26. It\'s a weird outlier, and he\'s bounced back closer to his usual career averages, even if he\'s not quite all the way back to 50 percent anywhere yet. Playing two more minutes per-game than last year and with much better goal-tending, his tangible results (On-Ice Goals Percentage) have seen the best recovery. His Expected Goal share is still not great, but he\'s playing tough matchups, and that\'s not exactly getting crushed.

Interestingly, York is somehow only credited with 14 hits this season. That feels impossibly low for a defenseman playing well over one-third of the game every single night, but among defensemen with over 1,000 minutes, there\'s six others who have fewer-- Shea Theodore and Quinn Hughes are at the bottom of this list. Most of these players are in the same mold as York, but many have had more success offensively than the Flyer defenseman, including Drysdale at 16. If he can preserve his body and still be effective along the boards, all the better, but it could be something that the front office hints at when they discuss needing to be \"hard to play against\" on the back-end.

York\'s offense has left us wanting more

This is where some of the disappointment has built. After a 10 goal, 135 shot-on-goal season in 2023-24, York followed up with four goals and less than half of the shots the next season. The ability to get pucks through traffic is something York had shown promise in, but we haven\'t seen much of it since. It\'s wrong to critique a defenseman on how many goals they score, but it would be nice to at least create some more rebound opportunities for the forwards to jump on-- especially for a team who has struggled to produce volume this season as a whole.

Ziggy and Yorky – what a duo. 😤 #PHIvsMTL | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/sxnORoMjbR

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 5, 2025

Through 65 games played, York has four goals this year and has set a career-high in assists with 21. He has gotten some power play time, but the Flyers have decided Rasmus Ristolainen is better suited for the quarterback role on the second unit. Drysdale has taken the opportunity on the top unit, if you can call it that, and so power play time is suddenly not really up for grabs. It\'s hard to defend keeping anyone on either unit; they\'re the worst in the league over the last half-decade or so. He\'s got solid puck-moving ability, so it\'s surprising that he doesn\'t at least get more secondary assists. At any rate, York\'s ceiling being a 30-point guy would be disappointing considering his perceived prowess as a young player.

At a very modest $5.1 million per season through 2030, York should still provide good value for that money. While probably not irreplaceable, he\'s a fine player. If the Flyers choose to shake things up in the summer, he\'s one of the seemingly few that has no trade protections, and most teams would like a guy like him in their lineup. With all the talk of Emil Andrae potentially seeing his final days in Philadelphia, and David Jiricek on his way, it\'s interesting to see if York is part of a bigger deal for a center. There\'s bound to be a 40 or 50 point season in York at some point; perhaps when the Flyers start scoring some goals on a regular basis, he\'ll be a big beneficiary. Next season will be the tell on York\'s career trajectory, and there\'s another level he can reach.

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