By Nick Tricome

Copyright phillyvoice

Cam York knows he can be, and needs to be, better than last season. The Flyers believe he will be.

In the days leading up to training camp’s first on-ice session on Thursday morning, there’s been a different kind of optimism in the air at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees.

The team is young, and in turn, more exciting. They know that part. They want to start showing that they’re visibly getting better on the ice, too, but to what extent this year will have to be seen. Moreover, the players who stagnated or regressed last year have hope from the organization that this coming season will present a clean slate, and an opportunity to get back on the upswing.

York, especially, is in that latter camp.

“We think he’s got more,” Flyers general manager Danny Brière told the local media on Tuesday during a pre-training camp press conference. “We think he’s closer to what he was two years ago than last season. And I could say the same thing about [Jamie Drysdale]. I’m really excited for those two guys going into the season.”

But both have their intrigue for different reasons.

Drysdale, ever since he was acquired from Anaheim in the January 2024 trade of Cutter Gauthier, has been positioned as a long-term development project to, hopefully, set the Flyers up with a fluid skating rover of a defenseman over the next five years.

York, as a former 14th overall pick from the 2019 draft, has carried a lot of talent and promise and established himself as a regular top-four blueliner in the past few seasons.

But last season felt like a step backward. An early-season shoulder injury didn’t help, and later on, as the Flyers were spiraling in the lead-up to former coach John Tortorella’s firing, York’s play got rough, too.

The 24-year-old’s overall production took a hit as well, dropping from 10 goals and 30 points across all 82 games in the 2023-24 season down to four goals and 17 points in 66 contests through 2024-25.

There were some positives, though. York got smarter, and a bit tougher, in the Flyers’ own end, closing out gaps more effectively and digging after pucks more aggressively. Plus, even while he was inconsistent, he was still taking on the majority of the tougher defensive minutes from night to night at a 20:47 average.

York was due up for a new contract this past summer. The Flyers were able to reach terms with him on a five-year, $27.75 million contract, which also re-invested their faith in both him and the idea that last season was just an anomaly.

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The Flyers seem bullish, also, about the thought that new head coach Rick Tocchet can help to unlock a greater offensive side of York’s game, sort of in a similar way to how Quinn Hughes took off in Vancouver under Tocchet’s watch.

The Flyers aren’t expecting York to be Quinn Hughes, of course, but still, they are expecting more.

“We believe there’s more,” Brière said of York. “There’s more in there. He’s rounded his game nicely. I mean, when I first saw him, the first time I saw him, I never thought he’d become as good of a defender as he’s become.

“He’s fierce. I’ve been really impressed by how brave he is to go retrieve pucks down deep, taking hits, blocking shots, being willing to put his body on the line. I’ve been really impressed with that side of his game, and I think there’s more offensively that hasn’t come out yet.”

But York has to be better to get there. He knows it. The Flyers believe it.

And it’ll be a clean slate for him to start.

“I think earning the trust of Tocc is going to be important for me early on,” York said after he signed his new contract back in July. “Like every player with a first-year coach, you gotta earn his trust, and then obviously, the opportunities are gonna come for you.

“But you gotta play hard and do the little things to earn the trust, and I think that’s gonna be a big thing for me.”

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