Florida Panthers: Five Defensemen to Select with the 13th Pick

Cam York (USNTDP Juniors/USHL)

You’re probably wondering why Cam York isn’t above Ville Heinola and possibly even Moritz Seider. Well, you see, there’s a reason for that.

While Cam York is projected as a higher pick than Ville Heinola in all mock drafts, I feel selecting a Euro defenseman (which have higher upside and adapt better to today’s NHL game) would benefit the Panthers greatly in both the present and the future.

There’s no doubt that Cam York has talent and upside offensively, evident by his stats with the USNTDP Juniors (7G, 22A, 33Pts in 28GP) and the U.S. National U18 Team (14G, 51A, 65Pts in 63GP).

However, it’s crucial to note that York put up these numbers playing against kids his age, versus playing against men like the previously mentioned four.

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While he can jump in the rush and provide some scoring on the power play and at even strength, he struggles a little bit with his game away from the puck.

York’s defensive coverage could use some work with positioning and awareness as he doesn’t always stick with his assigned assignment.

As well, he’s also shown at times that his timing can be poor. In a selective amount of games, you can see York’s pinching awfully timed, which have caused odd-man rushes going the other way and resulting in scoring chances. For a first-round selection, you’d expect a defenseman to have accurate pinches on the majority of the plays he commits to.

Taking into account that Söderström, Seider, Heinola, and *maybe* Broberg will all be available come time for the 13th pick, there are just too many more talented defensemen available that Florida would be passing up if they were to select Cam York.

By no means is York a bad defender, but he isn’t as well-rounded or polished as the four d-men I dissected above.

At No. 13, the Panthers would honestly be better off selecting a defenseman that’s already capable of playing against men at a high level and can step into the league as early as a season or two after the draft. I just don’t see that with Cam York, unfortunately.

Expect the Panthers to jump on either one of Victor Söderström, Moritz Seider, or Ville Heinola if Philip Broberg is taken before they are on the clock.