Keith Yandle News

Yandle was a fourth-round pick of the Coyotes in 2005 and holds the NHL ironman streak, playing 989 consecutive games. He finishes his career with 619 points (103G / 516A) in 1109 career NHL games.

Yandle was a healthy scratch for the last two games but he will suit up on the third pairing on Tuesday. Yandle will start a new ironman streak, replacing Kevin Connauton in the lineup.

Scratching Yandle snaps his ironman streak at 989 games and makes room for the recently signed Ronnie Attard to make his NHL debut against the Maple Leafs. The Flyers are prioritizing getting their young players minutes over Yandle's streak.

Yandle had two years left on a seven-year contract that carried a $6.35M AAV cap-hit. Buying out his contract will save the Panthers just over $4.0M in cap-space in 2021-22, $958.3K in 2022-23 and cost them $1.242M in 2024 and 2025 (per PuckPedia). The 34-year-old defenseman has not missed a regular-season game since 2009 and sits second on the all-time Consecutive Games Played in NHL History list at 922 games.

Yandle began to fall out of favour as training camp progressed, ultimately leading to him practicing with the second group for the last few days. Yandle currently has the longest active "Iron Man" streak in the NHL at 866 games, which will come to an end if he sits on Sunday. With Yandle expected to sit, Gustav Forsling and Radko Gudas are expected to skate on the third pair and Aaron Ekblad will QB the top PP unit.

Vrbata was a seventh round pick (No.212) back in 1999 and went on to have a great NHL career. Vrbata played for the Avalanche, Hurricanes, Blackhawks, Coyotes, Lightning, Canucks and Panthers, picking up 284 goals and 339 assists (623 points) in 1057 games along the way.

Yandle is in danger of missing the Panthers’ season opener after suffering an upper-body injury in Saturday’s preseason game. The Panthers are saying his is “probable” to return next week, so keep an eye on him heading into the regular season.

Vrbata has been a healthy scratch for the last three games, but he will draw back onto the Panthers’ second line tonight. Vrbata, has just 14 points (5G / 9A) in 40 games this season.

Vrbata was a healthy scratch for the last three games but with Denis Malgin (upper-body) out, Vrbata will replace him on the second line. Vrbata has picked up five goals and eight assists (13 points) in 38 games this season. Despite a rough year, he is a decent daily punt play while playing alongside Vincent Trocheck and Jonathan Huberdeau.

Vrbata was not on the ice for the Panthers practice on Wednesday and is not expected to play tonight. Vrbata has had a tough season in Florida so he isn’t fantasy relevant at this time anyways.

Vrbata was a scratch on Tuesday but is expected to play tonight in Colorado. It has been a slow first two months for Vrbata, who has just 11 points (3G / 8A) in 25 games this season. He will likely replace Connor Brickley in the lineup.

Vrbata has missed the last five games but is expected to be back in the lineup on Friday. Vrbata is expected to replace Dryden Hunt on the third line and enter play with three goals and eight assists (11 points) in 19 games this season.

Vrbata is set to miss his third straight game tonight vs. Chicago and was moved to IR this afternoon in order to activate Derek MacKenzie.