The 2024-25 season may have just started, but the to-do list for the 2025 offseason already features a pretty daunting task on the horizon, and that’s a contract extension for their top defenseman Cam York.
York, who will turn 24 years old in early January, signed a two-year bridge deal in 2023 that is set to expire this coming offseason where he’ll be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights.
Taking a look around the league, top young defenseman are getting paid handsomely, and York will probably be no different, so what exactly can we expect his next deal to clock in at? Let’s take a look at some recent top defensemen in their early 20s to sign extensions to gauge the expectations for York.
The Buffalo Sabres especially have set the recent bar for defenseman considering they’ve inked three of them to deals in the last 12 months. The have a pair of first overall picks that signed long-term deals a few days apart in October of 2023. 24-year-old Rasmus Dahlin got an eight-year deal at a $11 million cap hit, while 21-year-old Owen Power got a seven-year deal at a $8.35 million cap hit.
They also signed 24-year-old Mattias Samuelsson, who inked an extension in 2022, to a seven-year deal at a $4.3 million cap hit in that kicked in during the 2023-24 campaign. He has played more of a depth role for the Sabres, albeit in a consistent manner.
Elsewhere during the 2024 offseason, the most recent example on the list is Red Wings’ star 23-year-old Mo Seider signed a seven-year deal that carries a $8.5 million aav. Despite both he and York begin selected in the first round of the 2019 draft, Seider has played nearly 100 more NHL games than York with a higher average TOI as well. Despite Seider’s upper hand statically, considering it’s the most recent signing, they’re the same age (York is three months older than Seider) and the fact that they’re their respective team’s top defenseman both now and a pillar for the future, it may be the most direct comparable.
22-year-old Jake Sanderson in Ottawa signed an eight-year, $8 million aav contract in September of 2023, which was before the start of his sophomore NHL campaign. The deal kicked in during the 2024-25 season. This was more of a preemptive move by the Senators as they opted to forgo an bridge deal as he was already a young piece of their otherwise shaky defense.
Looking back a few years, Cale Makar signed a 6 x $9mil contract, Miro Heiskanen signed a 8 x $8.4 million contract, and Quinn Hughes signed at 6 x $7.8 mil, all during 2021. With the exception of Owen Power, these were the three youngest signings on this list, and they came during the flat cap era during the pandemic, so the slightly lesser term of Makar and Hughes sets them up for an even bigger payday during their 27 or 28 year old seasons.
The black sheep of most of these comparables is LA Kings’ lefty Mikey Anderson. He was a later round pick (103 overall in 2017) that has blossomed into their top guy. He signed an eight-year deal carrying a $4.1 mil AAV in the middle of the 2022-23 season. It was more a smart value signing by the Kings securing a late-bloomer than it was a high caliber former first round pick like most of the players we’ve talked about.
If you want all the info above in a clean chart, well here ya go.
| Player | Signing Age | Term | Cap Hit (AAV) | Year Signed |
| Rasmus Dahlin | 24 | 8 years | $11 mil | 2023 |
| Owen Power | 21 | 7 years | $8.35 mil | 2023 |
| Mo Seider | 23 | 7 years | $8.5 mil | 2024 |
| Jake Sanderson | 22 | 8 years | $8 mil | 2023 |
| Cale Makar | 22 | 6 years | $9 mil | 2021 |
| Miro Heiskanen | 22 | 8 years | $8.4 mil | 2021 |
| Quinn Hughes | 21 | 6 years | $7.8 mil | 2021 |
| Mikey Anderson | 24 | 8 years | $4.1 mil | 2023 |
| Mattias Samuelsson | 24 | 7 years | $4.3 mil | 2022 |
The moral of this whole story is that Cam York is in line for a big payday this summer. Despite the various reasons, timing, and draft positioning of the players listed above, they all settle within the same ballpark when it comes time to sign a contract.
Eight years at $8 million per is going to be the benchmark, and there’s not really much negotiation around that. Maybe seven years and a slightly higher AAV (in the case of Seider), but that’s about it. And based on some recent Flyers’ extensions, they’re not shy about handing out long-term contracts or big money. In the case of Travis Sanheim’s eight-year, $50 million extension, they used MacKenzie Weegar’s contract signed in Calgary the year prior as the framework for Sanheim’s new deal, so they will, in some cases, base some of their moves off comparable deals across the league.
Throwing money and term at everybody on the roster is a tactic that will come back to bite them sooner or later, but unlike most of their frivolous spending, Cam York will likely be worth the investment both now and in the future.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: Getty Images
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