Keith Yandle, who currently holds the NHL record with 989 consecutive games played, has announced his retirement.
The 36-year-old defenseman spent the 2021-22 season with the Philadelphia Flyers, scoring one goal and 19 points while averaging 13:59 in 77 games played.
The Phoenix Coyotes originally selected Yandle in the fourth round (No. 105 overall) of the 2005 NHL Draft, and the 6-foot-1 left-handed defender found his most success in his nine seasons with the club.
Yandle surpassed the 40-point mark in six of his nine seasons with the Coyotes. His renowned ironman streak started during the 2008-09 season, his first full campaign with the team, during which he scored 30 points in 69 games.
The Coyotes reached the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2010, 2011, and 2012, with Yandle playing a huge part. He finished fifth in Norris Trophy voting in 2011 after scoring a new career-high 59 points in 82 games; the following year, he scored nine points in 16 post-season contests to help the Coyotes reach the Western Conference Final, which they lost in five games to the eventual champion Los Angeles Kings.
At the 2015 trade deadline, the Coyotes moved Yandle to the New York Rangers in exchange for a package including Anthony Duclair and a first-round pick. Yandle spent parts of two seasons with the Rangers, helping them reach the 2015 Eastern Conference Final, before signing a seven-year UFA deal with the Florida Panthers in 2016.
Yandle remained productive throughout his tenure in Florida, scoring a career-best 62 points in 2018-19, but the Panthers made the playoffs only twice in his five seasons and never won a round. With Yandle less than a year away from setting a new ironman record, Panthers general manager Bill Zito bought out the final two years of his contract in July 2021.
The Flyers signed Yandle to a one-year deal later that month. Yandle struggled in a depth role on a poor Flyers team but set the consecutive games played record on January 25, 2022; in April, then-Flyers head coach Mike Yeo made Yandle a healthy scratch, ending his streak at 989 games.
In 1,109 career regular-season games with the Coyotes, Rangers, Panthers, and Flyers, Yandle amassed 103 goals and 619 points. He retires just seven games ahead of fellow ex-Coyote Phil Kessel on the ironman leaderboard; Kessel, who ranks second all-time with 982 consecutive games played, signed a one-year deal with the Vegas Golden Knights in August and could surpass Yandle in the first month of the 2022-23 season.
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