The Flyers hope Jamie Drysdale and Cam York’s friendship off the ice leads to chemistry on it

SUNRISE, Fla. — Jamie Drysdale and Cam York walked into the Flyers locker room at Amerant Bank Arena and gave each other a look, a little giggle, and a big smile.

There on the whiteboard for the team’s second practice in South Florida were the Nos. 9 (Drysdale) and 8 (York) as a defensive pairing.

With John Tortorella at the helm, there are no guarantees they will officially hit the ice on Tuesday together when the Flyers play the Florida Panthers (7 p.m. on NBCSP). The bench boss let it slip he’s leaning toward suiting up 11 forwards and seven defensemen again. But that hasn’t stopped the two good buddies off the ice from getting excited about the opportunity.

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“I think the closer you are off the ice today, the better you’re going to be on the ice, to be honest,” Drysdale said. “You’re not afraid to say anything. You kind of know each other better, you know what people are going to do, what to expect. You’re going to have a pretty good relationship [out there] and yeah, should be fun playing with him.”

According to Natural Stat Trick, the duo has spent only 33 minutes, 5 seconds on the ice together across Drysdale’s eight games with the Flyers. It’s about 4 minutes a game, which means a good chunk of that was probably like two ships passing in the night as line changes were made.

With the Flyers mired in a five-game losing streak, it makes sense that Tortorella and associate coach Brad Shaw, who is the mastermind behind the defense, want to see some new pairings. Tortorella is also hoping that the 23-year-old York can help teach the soon-to-be 22-year-old Drysdale a few things.

“I liked how they handled themselves just in the drill here,” Tortorella said Monday. “I watched Cam go over to Jamie and talk to him a little bit. I think that’s very important for that communication to happen instead of me beating them over the head with my stick trying to teach him. It’s better coming from a teammate.”

The shift from Tortorella is stark. At the beginning of the season, he said he wasn’t sure York was an NHL player. On Nov. 4, the coach sat the blueliner for the entire third period against the Los Angeles Kings. Now he’s calling the Californian “one of our better defenders” and has been impressed by his growth throughout the season.

“I’ve always had a lot of pride in being a 200-foot guy. I don’t know why I was just perceived as just an offensive guy,” York said. “But it’s something that, ever since I’ve turned pro, I’ve really tried to work on.

“I mean, the past few years, we’ve defended a lot and I think that’s actually helped me now that we’re scoring more goals. I think it’s something that I’ve always really taken pride in and like I said, we’ve defended a lot the past few years so I’ve had a lot of practice.”

In 50 games this season, York has 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) in 22:05 of ice time, a career high. He does have a plus-minus of minus-13, but he’s second in ice time on the Flyers thanks to key minutes against the opposition’s top lines or when his team needs a goal and it gives up an empty-netter.

Now he’ll possibly be skating beside Drysdale, who is known for his smooth skating and high Hockey IQ, and has a goal and two assists in his eight games with the Orange and Black. York is also looking forward to being paired with a right-handed shot as a lefty. And although the two used to be fierce competitors on the World Junior stage, as Drysdale wore the maple leaf for Canada and York the Stars and Stripes for the U.S., they are now super tight.

Tortorella is hoping — nay, would be beyond ecstatic — that when the two blueliners do hang out together off the ice and sit around the dinner table or grab lunch, they talk shop.

So do they talk hockey when breaking bread?

“Weirdly enough, I feel like there’s, you really only talk about a few things as guys,” Drysdale said with a chuckle. “No, definitely, hockey is one of them. Chat it up about, nothing too detailed or serious, just a few things we’re going to do in tomorrow’s game. Just a little friendly talk.”

Added York: “Sometimes [we talk hockey]. I think when we get away from the rink it’s important, especially toward the end of the year when you play a lot of hockey, to kind of get away from the game a bit.

“But, we do throw stupid ideas at each other sometimes. He’s a great guy, one of my best friends already on the team.”

A little over two years ago, Tortorella was a TV analyst at ESPN when Anaheim’s Trevor Zegras set up Sonny Milano with a “Michigan” style assist, scooping up the puck in a lacrosse-style shot. Tortorella said if a player on his team did it, he’d “have a talk with the people after the game.” He did say he thought it was “fun to watch” and “cool,” but Tortorella is a traditionalist who loves a hard, honest game and isn’t a big fan of showmanship. He did try to clarify his comments a few days later, saying, “That was a tremendously skilled play by a tremendously skilled player — both [Zegras] and Sonny. My thoughts were: Is it a hockey play?”

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Enter Joel Farabee into the chat.

The New York native tried the “Michigan” against Boston Bruins netminder Linus Ullmark in the Flyers’ last game before the break.

“Yeah, they all looked at me behind the bench,” a grinning Tortorella said. “I told them, I said, ‘I will take that goal off the board.’

“Of course, the first guy that looks over his shoulder at me is [Travis Konecny]. He’s on the bench when he saw Joel do that.

“I don’t know what I’d do if that happens.”

In what was all but a formality, the Flyers officially activated Owen Tippett on Tuesday, with the winger assuming Carter Hart’s vacant spot on the roster. According to a league source, the Flyers will indeed be receiving salary-cap relief while Hart is on a leave of absence from the team as he faces one count of sexual assault in connection with an incident from 2018 as a member of the Canadian World Junior team. According to CapFriendly, Hart has $1,492,125 remaining on his daily cap hit. The goalie, who will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season, is in the final year of a three-year, $11.937 million contract.