Yahoo Sports Cam York Talks Having 'Tough Skin,' Hopes For His Flyers Future & Improving His Golf Game
When Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Cam York walks into a room, he doesn't need to say a word to command attention.
A quiet confidence radiates off him no matter what he's doing, whether it's on the ice making crucial plays on the blue line in all 82 games of the NHL season, or sitting down for an interview with an easy smile and relaxed posture. He has a presence that is felt in every game shift, every glance, and every stride on the ice.
This isn't a personality trait that's developed because of a stellar 2023-24 season—he's always known the kind of player he is and has the potential to be as his career continues.
There's a clip of him being interviewed after the Flyers' development camp in 2019—the year York was drafted at 14th overall—where he stated quite matter-of-factly, "I want to be a guy that plays 30 minutes a night, not just 20."
"I don't remember that [moment] specifically," he laughed, "but I think at a young age and when you're a young player, you kind of have an idea of what you want to become in the NHL. I think at that time, that was what I was envisioning. Players have a good idea of what they can become and I just felt like that was something I saw myself becoming. I think I'm slowly starting to kind of see that happen now."
Last season, he stepped up in a huge way to become one of the Flyers' top-pair defenseman, recording career highs in average ice time (22:37), goals (10), assists (20), and overall points (30), and receiving the team's Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy, awarded to the "Flyer who has most improved from the previous season, as voted by his teammates."
Such significant improvements may have hit some young players like a ton of bricks, but for York, it's simply what he's been working for his entire career.
"I mean, the NHL is obviously a different ball game," he acknowledged. "Like, I expected it to happen at a young age, but obviously you just never know what can happen. I was working really hard to try and get there, and every year, I feel like I've taken the right strides to get to that point.
"Right now, I'm just trying to continue to take the right steps and become the player I envisioned at that young age. You always kind of have that confidence even when you're 18 and you just get drafted [having] those aspirations."
Some young players would let such hard-earned success get to their heads, but make no mistake—York is a self-assured player, not an arrogant one.
"I feel like I'm a confident player, but I don't necessarily—I'm not gonna be cocky in a way, or show it like that," he clarified. "I feel like I've always kind of had that type of swagger, I would call it."
The laidback, unperturbed way York carries himself is a characteristic that he's proud of—even if it causes him to be at odds with notoriously tough head coach John Tortorella.
This is perhaps best exemplified by when Tortorella stated rather bluntly early last season that he "[didn't] know if [York] was an NHL player," (he later called York "one of [the Flyers'] best defenders"), to which the 23-year-old responded in April that he "didn't always listen" to what his head coach had to say.
"Obviously, Torts is not an easy coach, and he's never been easy on me, ever," he explained. "I don't think that'll ever change... You know that he's gonna be really hard on you and that you have to be as best conditioned as possible, mentally and physically. When I say I don't pay attention to him, it's like, I listen to him if he told me something positionally that he wanted me to do better... But in terms of what he says to the media [about me], I usually try to just tune it out.
"My whole career, I've had tough skin. I don't necessarily listen to people, I don't really read things or anything like that. I'm a pretty laidback guy, and I think that's a good thing. I'm not dragged down by anything [that gets said about me]. Every professional has to deal with things like that, so we're all kind of used to it in a way. I think it's been a big reason to why I've had success and why we'll hopefully continue to have success."
Even though he's an incredibly "self-aware" player that doesn't need Tortorella throwing the book at him whenever he messes up, he knows he'll likely be joining the legion of former players that have suffered through Tortorella's training regimens and think of themselves as better because of it.
"I'm the type of player that, when I make a mistake on the ice, I know," he said. "I don't need somebody yelling in my ear. But I think it's good to have a coach that holds everybody accountable and there's no gray area. I think Torts is a great coach, and I think, [when I'm] looking back when I'm retired, I'll be happy I had him as a coach. He's done a lot of really good things for me and made me a much better player."
Megan DeRuchie-The Hockey News
York's ascension to top-pair defenseman comes at a time when the Flyers' young core—York, Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost, Sam Ersson, to just name some—are taking on more responsibility than ever when it comes to carrying this team to success. The front office has stated countless times that the young players are the central focus moving forward, which can feel like a lot of pressure for someone that age.
But as we know by now, pressure isn't a phenomenon York lets himself get bothered by.
"I don't know if pressure is the right word. I definitely think there's an expectation now for us," he said. "We played last year, we played a full season [together], and went through a lot of tough times and good times. I think a lot of guys' characters were built, which is good.
"We're a young team, but I don't think we necessarily feel like we're young or play like we're young. There's a leadership group and there's older guys, but I definitely think that, in that young core, there's a bunch of good guys and we're all kind of leaders in a different way."
He's familiar with being a leader—most notably captaining the United States to a gold medal in the 2021 World Junior Championship—and is open to the possibility of being one in the future for Philadelphia.
"One day, it would be cool," he remarked. "That would be an honor to wear a letter here in this organization. But, [right now], I maybe haven't played the right amount of games, but I feel like I definitely have the leadership qualities and that would be something that would be pretty special if that was given to me."
He's well on his way to making that case for himself in all aspects. The past two summers, he's stayed in the area to train with the Flyers' strength and conditioning staff to continue his physical development.
"In previous years, I've been young and I think my biggest struggle has been trying to maintain weight," he noted. "Even now, I still kind of struggle with it, but as I'm getting older, it's easier. I'm, like, 205 [pounds] right now and hopefully during the season still kind of flirting with that number."
And, of course, he's fully committed to embracing the grind of Tortorella's infamous (and numerous) conditioning tests during preseason.
"Our camp is hard, so it almost feels like every day is a game," he said. "I think, conditioning-wise, I'm close [to being in game form.] I wouldn't say I'm right there yet, but it's tough to emulate a game in practice, so there's definitely some things where I'm like, 'Okay, it's definitely been a while since I played a game.' But for the most part, I feel good. [During the Islanders game], I felt solid, but I'm not sure how many more games I'm gonna be playing. I'm just trying to fine tune the little details of my game and try to get ready for night one."
Megan DeRuchie-The Hockey News
Another important thing York is working on, like any hockey player would, is his golf game.
A less-than-ideal finish during a team golf outing over the summer (shown in the first episode of the Flyers' YouTube docuseries The Standard) hasn't discouraged him since, according to him, he can't solely be blamed for the performance.
"I think our squad finished last, actually," he laughed. "Every guy has a handicap and they get deducted strokes for whatever your handicap is, [but] I got pretty good. But, yeah, I think our squad finished last, so it was a tough event for us, but we still had a blast."
When asked about if he's going to improve something as simple and relaxing as his golf game this season, his answer is classic Cam York—laidback and self-assured, with little doubt that he'll achieve what he's setting out to do: "That's the plan."
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