Flyers defenseman Cam York out for two weeks, expected to be placed on injured reserve
The loss of York leaves a hole on defense as he and Travis Sanheim have been a formidable duo since last season.
As if the poor record wasn’t enough, the Flyers will have to climb out of the basement without one of their top defensemen.
Cam York will miss a minimum of two weeks with an upper-body injury — and it could be longer.
“It depends on how he recovers,” general manager Danny Brière said on Saturday. “But we expect him to be out at least two weeks, and we’ll see from there.”
He added that York “most likely” will be put on injured reserve.
The 23-year-old blueliner took a hard hit from Nic Dowd along the boards late Wednesday against the Washington Capitals and did not return.
Against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday, Erik Johnson entered the lineup alongside Egor Zamula, and Rasmus Ristolainen moved up to play with Travis Sanheim. The Flyers won 7-5, while coach John Tortorella noted that his team “defended our [expletive] off,” the loss of York was noticeable.
“It is such a huge hole,” Tortorella said after the game. “From where he was my first year, to what he means to this team right now, it’s such a huge hole. So, yes, it’s a credit to our six, and to the forwards, against a really good hockey team, a very balanced offensive hockey team, to hang in there.”
The loss of York does leave a gaping hole on defense as he and Sanheim have been a formidable duo since last season. The two typically play against the opposition’s top lines and each has a plus-minus of minus-2 — the best among the five defensemen who have played every game. (Only two full-timers on the roster have a better plus-minus.)
And York has been a minute-muncher. Last season he was No. 2 in ice time, trailing Sanheim by 74 seconds. This season, he was leading the team in average time on ice (22 minutes, 56 seconds); he left Wednesday’s game after logging more than 22 minutes.
According to Natural Stat Trick, Sanheim and York have played more than 100 minutes at five-on-five together. When they are on the ice, the Flyers have more shot attempts (51.7%) and 56.3% more scoring chances than their opponents. And the majority of those chances are from high-danger spots. Individually, York has 17 shot attempts at five-on-five and two of the Flyers' seven goals at that strength.
The question now is who will be the corresponding move? The Flyers have two spots open with Jett Luchanko also being returned to Guelph of the Ontario Hockey League on Saturday morning.
» READ MORE: Flyers send 2024 first-rounder Jett Luchanko back to junior after four NHL games
Emil Andrae was recalled when Nick Seeler was placed on injured reserve to start the season and is an option to give the Flyers a seventh defenseman. Andrae had a strong camp and has an assist in one game with Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League entering Saturday. Andrae did not play a game after joining the Flyers in Calgary for the second game of the season but does have four career NHL games under his belt.
There also is speculation that goalie Alexei Kolosov will be called up. Tortorella on Friday said, “Let’s face it, we have a goaltending situation.”
Ivan Fedotov, a 27-year-old rookie, has struggled in his three starts, allowing a combined 14 goals on 78 shots. Kolosov has a .875 save percentage for the Phantoms in four games.
The Flyers host the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday (7 p.m., NBCSP) to complete a weekend back-to-back. Brière would not commit to any corresponding moves before the game against the Wild.
“Not at this point. We’re going to go through the game today,” Brière said. “We’ll wait to see if there’s more injuries before committing to one position or another. I expect there will be moves after the game, but we want to wait to see what happens, injuries-wise, in this game first.”