Keith Yandle’s Ironman Streak Ends As Flyers Look Forward

After being a health scratch over the weekend for the Philadelphia Flyers, Keith Yandle’s ironman streak ends at 989 games.

Two months ago, Keith Yandle broke a record that had stood for 34 years when he played his 965th consecutive NHL game.

Last weekend, that streak ended at 989 games. Yandle was a healthy scratch for the Flyers’ 6-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday and their 4-3 shootout win over the New York Rangers on Sunday.

Heading into the weekend, the Flyers had already been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. With 15 games left on the schedule, Yandle could have hit 1,000 games before the end of the year.

Instead, the 35-year-old will likely pass his torch early next season. Forward Phil Kessel of the Arizona Coyotes is 20 games back at 969 as of Monday, April 4.

The Coyotes have 13 games left in their season. Kessel, 34, is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Speaking to the media before Saturday’s game, Yandle said that he’d been informed by Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher that the organization was looking to use the late part of this season to assess young talent.

“You know, towards the end of the year, when they’re signing young guys and getting free agents out of college that they’re going to give them a chance to play,” Yandle said. “You’ve got to respect that, out of the business side of it.

“You know what they’re trying to do here. I think for me, just continue to come to the rink and help young guys out. Be a good teammate and be here for guys.”

Yandle’s Impact

Originally drafted in the fourth round by the then-Phoenix Coyotes in 2005, Yandle has played a total of 1,099 NHL games. The first came on Oct. 11, 2006, against the Detroit Red Wings. His streak began on March 26, 2009, after he’d been healthy scratched by coach Wayne Gretzky for a 6-2 road loss to the Anaheim Ducks.

As a member of the Florida Panthers, Yandle did sit out three of Florida’s six playoff games in their first-round loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning last spring. But the official streak count includes regular-season games only.

It was nearly snapped by then-coach Joel Quenneville in Florida at the beginning of the 2020-21 season, but teammates rallied to ensure his spot in the lineup. After Saturday’s game, Kevin Hayes spoke up about what his close friend Yandle brings behind the scenes.

“We put ourselves in this situation,” Hayes said, “having the year that we’ve had, not battling for a playoff spot … It’s truly on us, the reason why he had to sit out a game, and I can’t say I agree with it.

“The impact that Keith has on myself and the guys in the locker room is something that can’t be measured … What he provides to some of these young guys on this team is something that no one else can do … He’s a role model for a lot of people.”

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A Sub-Par Season

At the end of last season, the Panthers bought out Yandle’s contract. He’d had two years remaining, at a cap hit of $6.35 million per season. That included a full no-movement clause in 2021-22 and a 12-team no-trade list for 2022-23.

Days after trading Shayne Gostisbehere to the Coyotes last July, Fletcher signed Yandle to a one-year deal with the Flyers. The cap hit was a bargain $900,000. The contract included a full no-trade clause.

Throughout his career, Yandle was known for his offensive chops, especially on the power play. With Ryan Ellis’s early-season injury, Yandle became the Flyers’ top blue-line option with the man advantage. He led all Flyers defensemen with an average of 2:22 of power-play ice time per game and his 10 power-play points tied him with Travis Konecny for second on the team. But the power play as a whole has been a disaster. It’s ranked last in the NHL with a success rate of just 13.1%.

Defensively, things didn’t look much better. The Flyers rank 27th with 3.51 goals allowed per game. And while plus/minus is a statistic that carries limitations, Yandle’s minus-39 this season is a career-worst for him, and the lowest number in the entire league.

As the season has progressed, Yandle’s ice time has dropped each month. He started at 16:09 per game in October. By January, that number had shrunk to 13:31. In March, it was just 12:49. And while Yandle posted 11 assists in 31 games through the end of 2021, he has just one goal and three assists in 36 games since the calendar flipped to 2022.

What’s Next?

Asked how he would handle the rest of the season, Yandle’s approach didn’t sound much different from how he has operated throughout his career.

“My mindset is to get better in practice, work on things and try to get back in the lineup and help the team win games,” he said. “I know it’s the end of the year and we’re out of it. But building something for these guys next year — where you can go into summer feeling good about yourselves and feeling good about the team, trying to set yourself up. I think that that will be my goal.”

As for the Flyers, the blue-line youth movement is on. Cam York, the club’s 2019 first-round pick, has now settled in on the right side, moving into the spot of now-traded Justin Braun on a pairing with Ivan Provorov. And 2019 third-rounder Ronnie Attard signed his two-year entry-level contract with the Flyers last week.

A junior out of Western Michigan, Attard got a quick lesson in what NHL offenses are all about when he took a minus-4 against Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. Against the Rangers on Sunday, he finished even, in 14:52 of ice time.

Up next for the Flyers: a home-and-home set with the Columbus Blue Jackets, which starts Tuesday at Wells Fargo Center. The week will wrap up with a visit from the Anaheim Ducks.