When Cam York suffered an upper-body injury on Oct. 23 in a game against the Washington Capitals, it likely sent a collective shiver up the spines of the Philadelphia Flyers’ coaching staff. The young defenseman was arguably the team’s best blueliner over the final couple months of last season, and was again playing big minutes early this season — nearly 23 minutes per game, in fact, on the top pair with Travis Sanheim. York notched two goals and one assist in his first seven games.
“Cam York, it is such a huge hole,” coach John Tortorella said the day after York’s injury was announced. “From where he was my first year to what he means to this team right now, it’s such a huge hole.”
But a funny thing has happened while York has been out. It could even be argued that York’s injury has been a blessing in disguise for a team that was struggling all over the ice at the time he went hard into the boards that night, courtesy of a hit from Nic Dowd, but has since been much, much better. The Flyers are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games, and at 7-8-2, they have a chance to get back to hockey .500 on Saturday at home against the Buffalo Sabres in the first of a five-game homestand.
To be clear, that’s not a knock on York, whom the Flyers will welcome back into the lineup as soon as he’s healthy again, maybe even as soon as Saturday. But the Flyers’ team game looks drastically different now than it did when York was hurt, and a key reason for that is how the team’s defense has played collectively as a group.
Even in their fortunate 5-4 overtime win in Ottawa on Thursday, in which the Flyers were outshot 37-19, the Senators were credited with just seven high-danger scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick. That’s been a theme lately, that even when the Flyers are spending time in their own end — and they spent far too much time there against the Senators — they maintain their structure. That, and the goaltending has been better lately too, including a standpoint performance from Ivan Fedotov as he notched his second consecutive win.
Leading the way defensively has been Sanheim. In the 10 games that he’s been without his regular partner, Sanheim has three goals and five assists for eight points — all at even strength — and is averaging 26:48 time on ice. Only Travis Konecny, with 15 points, has more over that span. Sanheim also remains part of the Flyers’ elite penalty kill, of course, but is also creating offense after taking a major step forward in that facet of his game last season.
Sanheim’s 25:09 per game is currently fifth in the NHL among defensemen, while his nine even-strength points overall ties him for 10th in the league. He’s almost certainly been the Flyers’ most valuable player to this point of the season.
“He’s got a good engine and I think he’s brought his game to a whole different level,” Tortorella said this week.
Sure seems like it. And that’s what makes Tortorella’s job a bit complicated when York returns. Sanheim, a left shot, skates on the right when he’s paired with York, a left shot. Since York went out, though, Sanheim has moved back to the left side, where he has clearly thrived of late.
Tortorella reiterated that he still believes Sanheim is “better on the right. That’s my preference, but in the situation we’re in we had to move him over (to the left).” In other words, when York returns, he’s probably going to be reunited with Sanheim, who will go back to the right side.
But even if that happens, there are further decisions on the horizon, as defenseman Jamie Drysdale — out with an upper-body injury — isn’t expected to be on injured reserve much later than the required one week. That could make him eligible as soon as Monday’s game against Colorado.
In other words, there are some interesting roster decisions on the horizon. Recent call-ups Emil Andrae and Anthony Richard have both played well and made an impact, but there won’t be room for everyone once the Flyers’ blue line is fully healthy again.
Ersson, Couturier dealing with minor injuries
According to a team source, Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson will be out one to two weeks after re-tweaking an injury that originally occurred on Nov. 2 and forced him out for two games. The actual injury isn’t the primary concern, but there’s some worry there as to why it has happened twice in a short period of time, as the Flyers are trying to learn whether Ersson can truly handle the workload of a No. 1 goalie — something he couldn’t do over the second half of last season.
It also means it will be Fedotov and Aleksei Kolosov as the tandem on Saturday and into next week, when the Flyers host the Avalanche on Monday and Hurricanes on Wednesday. Ersson’s injury allows the Flyers to keep carrying Kolosov, whom the Flyers believe would return to the KHL if he’s reassigned, rather than report back to Lehigh Valley.
It also gives the organization more time to get Phantoms goalie Eetu Makiniemi more experience in the AHL, as he could be an option later this season if Kolosov doesn’t stick around. In four games with the Phantoms, Makiniemi is off to a nice start, with a 3-0-1 record, 2.69 goals-against average and .908 save percentage. The Flyers would like him to play at least another three weeks in the AHL before they consider him an option for the NHL, if they need him.
As for Sean Couturier, who missed the Senators game, he woke up on Thursday morning and wasn’t feeling right, but could return as soon as Saturday or Monday at the latest, per a team source.
Michkov’s meetings
In order to keep things kosher between Matvei Michkov and Tortorella, the pair have started meeting with team staffer Slava Kouznetsov weekly, as first reported by ESPN on its broadcast last week. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported that Michkov was scratched last week as a result of “an exchange on the bench the Flyers wished to address.”
The three of them have met in each of the last two weeks, according to a team source, who added that the aim is to make sure that Michkov understands why certain things are happening in-game, as Tortorella is someone who “coaches in the moment.”
Still, the Flyers have been pleased with Michkov’s response to the scratching. Even in his return game against the Sharks, in which he didn’t see as much ice time as he had been getting earlier in the year, Michkov set up Konecny for a power-play goal before scoring the game-winner in the shootout. Michkov’s fearlessness of big moments and his desire to be a true difference-maker are what excites the team the most about his play and personality so far, but they’re also aware that sometimes, much like many others in this current younger generation, he needs and wants a little more context when certain decisions are made.
Ristolainen’s future
One name that’s already been mentioned in trade speculation is Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, who is signed for two more seasons after this one at a $5.1 million salary cap hit.
My understanding of the situation is that while the Flyers are fielding calls on him, they’re not interested in just giving him up for nothing to clear that cap space — but they also don’t have any sort of price tag attached to him, either. Ristolainen, 30, is off to a solid start so far this season, and as a right-handed shot with size and snarl, he could very well be a player whose value only goes up the closer it gets to the trade deadline. Any potential return for Ristolainen would depend on how much salary a team would require the Flyers to retain.
(Photo of Matvei Michkov and Travis Sanheim: Marc DesRosiers / Imagn Images)
