Despite having more money this year to start the offseason than they have in recent memory, the Philadelphia Flyers, led by general manager Daniel Briere, have been a bit frugal with their funds.
Instead of going on a big splurge, they spent most of this money re-signing RFAs Noah Cates and Tyson Foerster before going out and signing goaltender Dan Vladar and center Christian Dvorak. It would appear that the Flyers management sees enough potential in the young core to move forward.
However, the Flyers had two more RFAs to sign. First, the Flyers allowed Jacob Pelletier to go on his own. The former first rounder eventually caught on with the Tampa Bay Lightning on a cheap, three year deal.
The other one was defender Cam York. York has been a polarizing player over the course of his tenure in Philly. He's streaky, to say the least. He's been up and down and all around the defensive pairing units. Is he a product of himself, his coaches, or his partners on the defense? Not sure?
Is this a good deal?
Today, York signed a five-year deal to remain with the Flyers. The deal is worth $25.75 million with an annual value of $5.15 million. He's eligible for free agency in 2030 and is now the second highest paid Flyers' defender after Travis Sanheim. Speaking of Sanheim, he is signed on longer as part of the defense than York by one season. Besides Sanheim, York will also become the fifth member of the Flyers who is signed on through the rest of the decade, joining Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, and Sean Couturier.
But is it a good deal? Is he worth it? More importantly, has he shown that he deserves a contract of that length?
York is a left handed defender. Those are always in high demand. York is also still young, as he just turned 24. Having played in parts of five seasons with the Flyers, you can say he is a seasoned vet and shouldn't be stuck with the "young" epithet any more.
It's because of this, that we have to wonder if he has earned that money. Up until this season, he had been trending upward, offensively, each season. In 2023-34, he set career highs with 10 goals, 20 assists, 30 points, 174 blocks, 76 hits given out, and just 32 turnovers. This year, he struggled with injuries and a personality issue with former head coach John Tortorella.
Not only did his offensive numbers drop, but his defensive numbers crashed. He turned the puck over a career-high of 90 times, despite playing in just 66 games due to injuries and benchings. His sloppy defensive play was one of the major issues the former coach had with him.
If York can come back as an offensive-defender under Rick Tocchet, quarterbacking the power play, and helping to advance to offense, that's great. Having York back like that would make this deal well worth it. However, if that is the case, he needs to be paired up with someone who is defensively sound and can compensate if there is a turnover.
Perhaps, Tocchet can work on York's defensive shortcomings without hindering his offensive capabilities. To be honest, if he can do the same with Jamie Drysdale, the Flyers would have two of the youngest, fastest, and best defensive players in the Metro.
If each can contribute on the power play, so much the better. A lot of games last year were lost solely because of Philly's failure on the power play.
With that said, the true value of this deal is all going to come down to how well York plays and how he responds to his new coach; a coach who is totally different than York's previous two head coaches: Tortorella and Alain Vigneault. Tocchet could be someone who allows York to use his head, as well as his skates and encourage him to trust his instincts.
If, however, York fails to perform, this will be another albatross around the neck of this team. The oft-injured Rasmus Ristolainen has definitely been over paid and not played up to his contract. Ryan Ellis is still signed onto one more year, although he isn't going to play again. Most of the Flyers' defenders aren't signed past next season.
York can no longer be called a "kid". At this point, he's a vet. He should be at that stage in his career where he can help young guys like Helge Grans or Emil Andrae find their feet and do what they have to do to stay successful in the NHL. He's got to become a leader.
If York can become a more consistent player and become the leader that the defense needs him to become, this deal will become well worth it. If he can't do that and continues to be streaky on both offense and defense, this deal will become yet another overpaid player we're stuck with.