Flyers defenseman Cam York will be out for two weeks and is expected to be placed on injured reserve

As if the poor record isn’t enough, the Flyers will have to climb out of the cellar without one of their best defensemen.

Cam York will miss at least two weeks with an upper-body injury – and it could be longer.

“It depends on how he recovers,” said general manager Danny Briere. “But we expect him to be out for at least two weeks and we’ll see from there.”

He added that York will “most likely” be placed in casualty reserve.

The blueliner took a hard hit from Nic Dowd along the boards late in Wednesday’s game against the Washington Capitals and did not return.

Against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday, Erik Johnson came into the lineup alongside Egor Zamula and Rasmus Ristolainen moved up to play Travis Sanheim.

York’s loss leaves a gaping hole in the defense as he and Sanheim have formed a formidable duo since last season. The two typically play against the opponent’s top lines and each has a plus-minus of minus-2 – the best of the five defensemen who have played each game. (Only two full-timers on the roster have a better plus-minus.)

And York was a minutes-eater. Last season he was No. 2 in ice time, trailing Sanheim by 71 seconds. This season, he led the team in average time on ice (22:56); he left the game Wednesday after logging more than 22 minutes.

According to Natural Stat TrickSanheim and York played five-on-five together for more than 100 minutes. When they are on the ice, the Flyers have more shot attempts (51.7%) and 56.3% more scoring chances than their opponents. And the majority of those opportunities come from dangerous places. Individually, York has 17 shot attempts in five-on-five and two of the Flyers’ seven goals at that strength.

The question now is: who will be the corresponding move? The Flyers have two spots open with Jett Lucchanko was also sent back to Guelph from the Ontario Hockey League on Saturday morning.

Emil Andrae was recalled when Nick Seeler was placed on injured reserve to start the season and is a strong option to give the Flyers a seventh defenseman. Andrae had a strong camp and has an assist in one game against Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League that starts Saturday. Andrae did not play a game after joining the Flyers in Calgary for the second game of the season, but has four NHL games under his belt.

There is also speculation that goalkeeper Alexei Kolosov will be called up. Tortorella said Friday: “Let’s face it, we have a goaltending situation.”

Ivan Fedotova 27-year-old rookie, has struggled in his three starts, allowing a total of 14 goals on 78 shots. Kolosov has an .875 save percentage for the Phantoms through four games.

The Flyers host the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday (7 p.m., NBCSP) to cap off a back-to-back weekend. Brière would not make any corresponding moves before the game against the Wild.

“Not at the moment. We are going to go through the game today,” Brière added. “We will wait to see if there are any more injuries before we commit to one position or another. I expect that there will be moves after the match, but we first want to wait and see what happens in terms of injuries in this match.”