Keith Yandle’s Ironman streak has brought about too much media attention and it’s rather unwarranted. You should be able to see and understand both sides, but at the end of the day the Philadelphia Flyers owed the defenseman nothing after they allowed him to break the streak at 965 games, considering they were one of the only teams willing to sign him in August. National pundits and media members from around the NHL have jabbed at the Flyers for being gutless or classless or disrespectful to the veteran who was 11 games away from 1,000 consecutive appearances. The timing of it all was probably the most problematic because they decided to scratch him with 15 games left in the season, 11 away from the 1,000 mark, and 24 games after he broke the streak. Had they benched him right after the 965th consecutive game, there would still be criticisms, but a lot less.
The Flyers signed him to a veteran’s minimum in August and brought him over for a variety of reasons, but none more important than his power play prowess. He didn’t have the greatest of endings in Florida as he was bought out over the summer but there was controversy surrounding his streak well before. Then-head coach Joel Quenneville was about to scratch him and end his run of consecutive games before the internet blew up and sort of forced his hand in keeping him in the lineup. He was definitely sheltered with the Panthers because his discrepancies came out in short order in Philadelphia. He lost his role on the first unit of the power play pretty quickly to Ivan Provorov, was given a second chance and still didn’t take advantage, and for the season he has 1 goal, 14 assists, and is -39, a league-worst.
15 points represents his lowest point-production season since his rookie campaign in 2007-08 when he scored 12 points in 43 games. He went through a rough stretch where he didn’t record a point in 18 consecutive games, it took him until mid-February to score his first goal, and the Flyers power play sits dead last. It’s not entirely his fault, the Flyers power play units are filled with misgiving deeds, but they’ve never fallen to last place and Yandle’s offensive prowess was nowhere to be seen whether he was on the first or second unit. Continuing to use him on the power play took away minutes from Travis Sanheim or even Rasmus Ristolainen, who are much better suited for the power play than Yandle.
There were rumours that players within the locker room felt some type of animosity towards Yandle and the streak because they feel like he checked out and was only being prioritized because of the streak. Whether those rumours are true remains to be seen, but I think anyone who watched a Flyers game this year, let alone a period, could see that Yandle had lost a step, wasn’t hustling, wasn’t forechecking, and was being beaten to every loose puck or corner battle. Don’t get me wrong, Nick Seeler, Kevin Connauton, Provorov, Ristolainen, and even Sanheim have had bad seasons, stretches, or games this season but Yandle takes the cake. If the streak wasn’t intact he would’ve been benched a long time ago, especially by Alain Vigneault. The amount of times he scratched players like Phil Myers, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Robert Hagg, would indicate that Yandle’s streak held precedence.
With the Flyers much closer to last place than anyone had expected, they could have easily let him play the season out considering there was only 15 games left on the docket. They didn’t replace him with a younger player or someone from the minors because Ronnie Attard’s debut was supposed to come in the stead of Seeler. A couple off-days later and the Flyers’ practice lines had Yandle absent because he was dealing with an illness. Not too long after, Elliotte Friedman tweeted that the Flyers were having internal discussions with the defenseman about the remainder of the season. From November onwards, everyone complained about his overall play, that the Flyers cared too much about the streak, that the Flyers didn’t want to look bad with the 965th game well in reach, and that his play was atrocious. The Flyers have had some bad defensemen in the past, which include the likes of Andrew MacDonald, Brandon Manning, and Erik Gustafsson, so we know a thing or two about atrocious hockey.
For those who think the decision was gutless or classless need to understand that the Flyers did everything in their power to get him to 965. It was odd timing to pull the plug with 15 games remaining, but don’t forget that Chuck Fletcher was trying to give Seeler more games and ice time away from Yandle to see if he was worth re-signing in the offseason. I think that’s foolish and foolhardy but Fletcher has a proclivity of bringing back former Minnesota Wild players, and he has a hard time letting go of certain players that he adores (i.e. Rasmus Ristolainen’s extension). The Flyers love their depth signings and always seem to over-utilize them, Gustafsson comes to mind, but they would much rather have Seeler out there than Yandle. At the very least, Seeler actually forechecks, hits, blocks shots, fights, and has a purpose on the team. Yandle’s sole purpose of igniting the power play hasn’t worked in the slightest and outside of his quarterbacking, he doesn’t bring much to the table. It’s unfortunate that Seeler got injured that very game against Toronto, but there was no way they were going to re-insert Yandle over Connauton after all the backlash they received.
It would’ve been better if the Flyers called up either Egor Zamula or Wyatte Wylie to replace the veteran to really instill their youth movement, but it seems unlikely that they use their last AHL call-up on a defenseman. Nonetheless, it was a move that was a long time coming, there shouldn’t be precedence to extend streaks that involve consecutive games, and playing a player strictly for that purpose shouldn’t, wouldn’t, and can’t go over well with the rest of the team; regardless of what is being told to the media. 989 consecutive games is an impressive feat nonetheless, and it’s been reported that Yandle was okay with letting his streak come to an end if he were traded at the deadline, a way to increase his trade value, but no one bit. The Flyers were looking to give Seeler an extended run with his contract coming to an end but now with the injury, it remains to be seen what happens next for the defenseman. Fletcher and Mike Yeo have praised him enough times to “make sense” of it all but at the end of the day; the Flyers are going to “Flyer”.
