Cam York’s rise in California started with a backyard roller rink and coaching from a Hall of Famer

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Cam York wants to be a minute muncher. He wants to be the guy the Flyers count on day in and day out and the one repeatedly getting that all-important shoulder tap to hop over the boards for important shifts.

But the 6-foot, 194-pound blueliner, known more for his skating and offensive skills than big hits, is aware that he needs to step up in his own end to become a top-tier defenseman.

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“I feel like my offensive game will always be there for me, and that’s where I thrive,” York told The Inquirer this week. “But I think defensively I’ve always tried to be the best that I can be down there and, if you take care of the D zone, you’re going to get offensive chances from that.”

He is already seeing an uptick in ice time. Compared to the first two-plus years of his NHL career, York is averaging three more minutes. York remains a work a progress, he’s minus-5 on the season and has one goal and two assists through 13 games.

These will be more growing pains along the way, as is the case for most young defensemen who don an NHL jersey. Less than a week ago, the 2019 first-round pick (No. 14) was nailed to the pine for the entire third period against the Los Angeles Kings thanks to being on the ice for three LA goals and taking a costly delay of game penalty that led to another.

Let’s not forget he is just 22 years old.

It will take time for York to fully transform into being that two-way, always dependable guy but it is a spot his former coach Scott Niedermayer, a guy who built a Hall-of-Fame career thanks to his own flair for offense and slick 200-foot game, thinks he can achieve.

“I think in today’s game, I think you look at teams and the ability for players to be able to contribute in sort of all areas of the game and he definitely has the ability to do that,” Niedermayer told The Inquirer.

The four-time Stanley Cup winner worked with York, who also became friends with Niedermayer’s son Jackson, back when the Flyers defenseman was a red-haired tyke playing pee-wee hockey for the Anaheim Jr. Ducks. Niedermayer, who retired in 2010, was quickly impressed with York’s high hockey IQ, skill level, and on-ice vision. While he tried to teach him a few things, the former New Jersey Devils and Anaheim Ducks star says he “will take no credit” for York’s skating — even if York admitted to always keeping an eye on his favorite player when they were on the ice together.

“He was skating very well when we first crossed paths. So, yeah, he had that talent, right? ... I’m sure he’s put the work in as well,” said Niedermayer, who sees some similarities stylistically between himself and York.

Growing up under the California sun in Anaheim Hills, York spent his youth skating on an outdoor rink built by his dad, Jeff, in the backyard. It’s a scene a number of his teammates from colder climates experienced in their youth — except this one was a roller rink. Sporting Mission roller hockey skates, the same brand he still uses today, he would head back there each day after school to work on his skating and stick-handling with the lighter plastic puck and a hockey stick sans tape.

Those days and nights under the stars helped to make the transition from roller to ice a little smoother when the roller rink shut down when York was around the age of 10. With California traffic notoriously bad, and the nearest hockey rink now a few miles away, the hockey-loving kid needed to make a switch to keep playing the sport he loved. And York will readily admit the first time he went ice skating in Yorba Linda and a friend tried to teach him to stop, it was quite different than what he was used to.

“It is common down here [in California], right?” Niedermayer said when asked about York switching from wheels to blades. “But, I think it speaks to the talent Cam had and some of the work he’s put in as well. ... It’s a great story [him making the NHL] and an interesting one, for sure, but sort of a classic California hockey story, I think.”

On Tuesday night in San Jose, York became the 21st player born in The Golden State to reach the 100-game mark in the NHL. It is a key step for the defenseman who wants to inspire the next generation, much like he was inspired sitting in Section 313 at the Honda Center watching Niedermayer and Co. lift the Stanley Cup in 2007.

“Whenever I would talk to Scott, he would always just tell me to have fun and enjoy every single day that you get to play because there’s a lot of people that would want to be in your spot that don’t get to be,” York said. “He would always just iterate having fun and not taking it too serious, and I feel like that’s kind of how I am today.”

Friday night, York will head back to the arena where his love for the sport is rooted, except this time he’ll be sporting Orange and Black as the Flyers take on the Ducks. In front of family, friends, and his hometown fans, the kid who has always considered himself an underdog, who grew up in a non-traditional hockey market and started off playing on rollerblades, and who learned from one of the NHL’s greatest players will look to dominate on both ends of the rink.

“Growing up, no one ever believed that I would get to where I am today,” he said. “So just trying to continue to prove people wrong.”