In a pregame ceremony, the Flyers honored Keith Yandle for breaking the NHL’s ironman record.
VOORHEES, N.J. — Keith Yandle has played in 989 consecutive games after being scratched from the Coyotes' 6-2 loss to the Ducks on March 22, 2009.
His NHL record ironman streak could come to an end on Saturday, April 2, 2022.
The 35-year-old veteran defenseman missed practice Thursday because he was sick. He rejoined the Flyers for practice Friday, but skated on the team's extra defensive pair with Kevin Connauton.
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Ronnie Attard is set to make his NHL debut Saturday when the Flyers host the Maple Leafs (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP). He practiced on the third pair Friday with Nick Seeler.
Ivan Provorov-Cam York
Travis Sanheim-Rasmus Ristolainen
Nick Seeler-Ronnie Attard
NHL
With their 2021-22 season lost, the Flyers are in full evaluation mode. They have 15 games remaining. Attard will become the third Flyer to make his NHL debut in the last 10 days.
"We haven't made a decision on the lineup yet for tomorrow," Flyers interim head coach Mike Yeo said after Friday's practice. "Obviously Keith was sick yesterday, missed practice. Wanted to get him out there. I haven't had a chance to talk to him to see how he did in practice today. We do have a couple of guys that are banged up, a couple of guys that are battling a little bit of sickness right now. So we'll make a determination on the lineup tomorrow."
It's very possible the Flyers have made their decision but don't want to rush anything. You truly never know if something pops up the next day and suddenly a decision changes.
The decision is not an easy one. Yandle is highly respected by his teammates and coaches for his professionalism and pedigree. He's 11 games away from playing in 1,000 straight, a remarkable feat yet to be accomplished in the NHL.
Update: Yeo explains Flyers' decision to scratch Yandle, ending his ironman streak
With his 965th consecutive game played back on Jan. 25, Yandle took over the NHL record, which was previously held by Doug Jarvis.
"He's one of my favorite teammates I've ever played with," Kevin Hayes said in January. "He's a grounded human who understands what hard work is. He's just a consistent human on and off the ice, you know exactly what you're going to get from him. He's probably the last guy that wants to talk about this streak. But it's arguably one of the most impressive streaks in hockey."
Yandle is on a one-year, $900,000 deal and has played the second-fewest minutes per game of his career at 14:20. In 67 games this season, Yandle has recorded a goal, 14 assists and a minus-39 rating.
If the Flyers were to scratch Yandle, there would certainly be an important and respectful conversation between coach and player.
"In all honesty, I don't even really want to get into the speculation of that until we do or if we do make that decision," Yeo said. "Whenever you're dealing with any player, I think that communication is always important. Not sure what's going to happen tomorrow, so I don't want to kind of get into any of that right now."
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