At some point, the excuses have to stop. "He's young and still has a lot to learn!" True, but why isn't he? Why isn't Cam York of the Philadelphia Flyers improving? Why is he not growing as a reliable blueliner?
Yes, he will turn 24 in January. Yes, that is still young. He still has under 200 games of NHL experience under his belt. All of these things are true. However, there is another side to that coin.
The Flyers should jump on Cam York's trade value
While he has played in parts of four seasons for the Flyers, it has been two years since he officially became a starting defender for this team. He has two years of experience working with John Tortorella, a coach who preaches defense above all. He's had the opportunity to work with successful NHL veteran defenders such as Travis Sanheim, Ivan Provorov, Marc Staal, Justin Braun, Sean Walker, and others.
York came up with a lot of hype about his offensive prowess. While his stats did improve from his rookie season to his sophomore year (2 G and 18 A vs 10 G and 20 A), he has slowed down this year. More important are his defensive liabilities. It's also the reason he's been benched recently. To quote Tortorella, "He hasn't played well."
Case in point was his first period against the Penguins. He took a holding penalty. On that power play, Pittsburgh scored. On his very next shift, he got called for holding again and again Pittsburgh scored on the man advantage. The Penguins may be struggling, but you can't spot them two goals. Those goals gave the Pens a 4-1 lead that became hard to come back from.
York has talent, but there are flaws in his game. In his eagerness to jumpstart a rush, he can become reckless, leading to 24 giveaways. He is sometimes out of place and is not physical enough with opposing players.
While he still has value, the Flyers should consider moving him. A young player who is cheap and controllable is always a popular commodity during the trade deadline. The longer he continues to make mistakes and hurts the Flyers, the less value he can get in return. Then you end up with someone like Matt Read, a player the Flyers were forever hoping would get better and just never did.
It is possible that because of his age and potential, he could still fetch a first-round pick or perhaps more. If that is true, the Flyers should jump all over that. Get something for him while you can.