VOORHEES, N.J. — Cam York and the Flyers are moving past a reported incident that kept the defenseman on the bench Thursday night for the entire game at the Wells Fargo Center.
The 24-year-old was in uniform as the Flyers beat the Canadiens, 6-4, but he didn’t log a second of ice time. Brad Shaw said it was because of a “disciplinary issue.” The interim head coach wouldn’t comment any further on the matter.
“I’m not going to get into the details of it,” York said Friday after practice. “I will say this, I take full responsibility for my actions. It has been addressed here in the locker room. It’s something that I’m going to put behind me and move on from. We’ve got eight games left here and that’s my focus right now, so we’ll leave it at that.”
The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz reported Friday that an incident occurred between York and John Tortorella in Toronto on Tuesday night when the Flyers were blown out by the Maple Leafs, 7-2. York was benched by Tortorella after Toronto’s first goal and finished the game with only 3:50 minutes.
Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported Friday that the incident was a heated verbal exchange between the player and coach.
Tuesday night’s loss was Tortorella’s final game as the Flyers’ head coach. He was fired Thursday morning.
“I felt it was time,” general manager Danny Briere said. “It’s not one thing, it’s a series of things that have happened, probably a little bit more in the last three weeks, it escalated since probably around the trade deadline, right after that.”
Tortorella has always been a fiery coach who will challenge his players. Going back to his days in Tampa Bay, where he won a Stanley Cup, a verbal spat was not unordinary.
Tortorella heard about York’s great potential in 2022-23, their first season together, so he coached him hard. He had York go to the minors before the Flyers even reached their final cuts of training camp. Since then, York had been one of the Flyers’ most improved players.
“I’ll admit, when I sent him down, I tried to pick a fight with him when I sent him down, I was so upset with his camp,” Tortorella recalled earlier this month. “I think he went to Lehigh, he put the time in, I felt he had a chip on his shoulder coming back here, mainly at me. I was so proud of him as far as where he brought his game to; there is no reason why I can’t still look for that. And I’m going to continue to look for that.”
York felt bad that the Flyers had to play with five defensemen for most of Tuesday’s game and all of Thursday’s game.
“You never want to put your teammates in a situation like that,” he said.
When asked about Tortorella, York expressed an appreciation for the coach’s work and tough love.
“I have nothing bad to say,” he said. “He taught me a lot of really good things. … He’s a good coach, he gets a lot out of his players. I learned a lot from him and I’m going to use a lot of what he taught me down the road.”
York had to suit up Thursday to give the Flyers a full lineup. Their extra skaters were out with injuries and the team had already made its four permitted call-ups for after the March 7 trade deadline. A disciplinary reason does not allow for an emergency call-up.
Shaw expects York to play hard and be effective Saturday when the Flyers host the Sabres (1 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
“We have lots of young guys that are sort of on different tracks as far as how mature they are and where they’re going to get to,” the interim head coach said. “You learn through the good and the bad. Hopefully he’s a better person at the end of the day for what happened. It’s over now and we’ve dealt with it and we’re going to move forward.”
York will be a restricted free agent this offseason. The bumps this season haven’t changed his view on the Flyers.
“This is where I want to be, I’ve stated that,” York said. “I love what’s going on here, I love what we’re building. It hasn’t been our best of best years, but it’s here, this is where I want to be. I’m looking forward to the future.”
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