As the 2025 NHL offseason festivities are about to pick up as the month of June rolls on, one of the major storylines for the Flyers is the fate of 24-year-old defenseman Cam York. He had a rough season that was dampened by John Tortorella, and the two eventually had an altercation which led to the coach getting fired three weeks before the end of the season.
There was not a lot of word as to exactly what the fallout was from it in terms of where York stands with the Flyers. But now that the team has already inked fellow restricted free agents Tyson Foerster and Noah Cates to new deals, York’s absence grows more intriguing.
If the bridges are burnt between York and the Flyers and they have to move on from him, what is their plan to replace his presence on the blue line?
Whatever anybody thinks of York, replacing 20-25 minutes of mostly competent ice time a night isn’t a simple task. Any potential trade of York needs to be assessed wisely.
When they moved on from minute-muncher Ivan Provorov, they had York as the fallback option. But they don’t really have an in-house fallback option for York this time around.
They could just dump the responsibility on Emil Andrae, who may or may not be able to handle it. They don’t have a definitive answer to that question because John Tortorella refused to deploy him in any kind of meaningful way over the last two seasons.
There have been some concerning rumors when it comes to the Flyers and their focus on size. Much like an amusement park, if you’re under a specific height, you’re too small to play for the Flyers.
The concept that “small=bad” is completely absurd in 2025. Keith Jones must still think it’s 1995.
But if this logic ends up unfolding a little more openly through the rest of their offseason moves, that could leave 5’9″ Emil Andrae out of the NHL picture before he was ever given a chance to fully prove himself, let alone being their next top defenseman.
The rumor mill has attached 6’6″ lefty Nic Hague to the Flyers. He’s currently a restricted free agent with the Golden Knights. Hague played over 200 less minutes than York did in 2024-25, so there’s no real chance he could serve as a top pair replacement.
Essentially swapping York with Hague would leave Nick Seeler, Egor Zamula, Nic Hague, Emil Adnrae and Travis Sanheim as your main roster lefties, with Jamie Drydale and Rasmus Ristolainen as your righties, and the latter is scheduled to start the season on IR.
Spoiler Alert: that isn’t great.
The main theory is that if they’re trading York, they’re probably doing so to add a center, but there’s always the possibility they could flip him for another defenseman. Defensemen like Bowen Byram or Noah Dobson, who are also restricted free agents with the Sabres and Islanders respectively, are the two main notable players in a similar boat as York.
Byram is a lefty and would be an immediate replacement for York, whereas Dobson is a righty and would more than likely move Sanheim back to the left side on the top pair. Dobson is the better option of the two, but acquiring his rights is going to be far more expensive that Bryam, who may very well be had in a straight up swap with Buffalo.
Swapping York for Byram does pose the question of why go through with a move like that in the first place? They’re not necessarily gaining any ground in terms of talent (and based on Byram’s injury history it could end up being a huge net negative for the Flyers.) It’s just a trade for the sake of a trade.
Both the Flyers and Sabres could use a shakeup, and a deal like this wouldn’t (shouldn’t?) have may major consequences, but unless the line of communication with York has been severed so severely that there’s no going back, why not just re-sign their own guy?
The Flyers need to be careful with their decision surrounding Cam York. They shouldn’t easily move on him, but they can’t quite give him the typical max term, big money contract that most top young defensemen get due to the shaky state of his play last season.
If they trade York for a top center then actually add someone like Noah Dobson, moving on from him could be beneficial and a step forward for the entire team. But dealing his rights for a draft pick then throwing Nic Hague into the 1LD spot for the Flyers would be an unmitigated disaster, setting the team back even further than they already are.
Don’t really envy the decision makers on this one, but it’s their own fault for deeming their own top guy isn’t worthy without any kind of tangible plan of replacing him.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: Getty Images
brotherlypuck.com 