The NHL’s reigning Iron Man streak holder for playing consecutive games played, Keith Yandle has announced his retirement on Tuesday, while on an episode of the popular podcast “Spittin’ Chiclets”.
Yandle said on the podcast, “I’m shutting it down, I’m retiring from the game of hockey”. He also went on to add, “I’m really at ease with (the decision), and I’m looking forward to the next chapter, for sure.”
In January, the defenceman broke Doug Jarvis’ iron man streak by suiting up in his 965th straight contest before he was scratched out of the lineup after 989 games on April 2nd. Yandle’s run stretched from March 26, 2009, to March 29, 2022 just a little over 12 years.
As a former fourth round pick of the Phoenix Coyotes back in 2005, Yandle spent parts of nine seasons with the Coyotes franchise before being traded to the New York Rangers at the trade deadline in 2015, where he spent two seasons before signing as a free agent with the Florida Panthers.
Following five seasons in Sunrise, Yandle spent last season with the lowly Philadelphia Flyers as a free agent and was told he would not be brought back with the franchise after the season.
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In his 16 seasons, he amassed 103 and 619 points over 1,109 games, and although he never won any major trophies, including individual rewards, for most of his NHL career he was regarded as a premier defenceman, putting a up a decent amount of points, including five 50+ point seasons.
Lack of point production and a decline in defensive abilities in his later career, marred the tail end of his iron man streak, but for a time he was a heavily relied upon defensive option for all the teams he played for.
As a popular figure on the Spittin Chiclets podcast alongside former NHLers Paul “Biznasty” Bissonette and Ryan Whitney, Yandle has appeared on multiple episodes of the podcast, and might potentially a career path that he will follow in his post-NHL career.
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