Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Keith Yandle will not be in the lineup on Saturday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs, bringing his NHL record consecutive games played streak to an end at 989 games.
Flyers head coach Mike Yeo confirmed on Saturday that Yandle will not play.
Yandle had missed some practices this week, while it was reported that discussions had taken place between him and the team on how to handle his streak as the season winds down for the Flyers. Philadelphia is out of the playoff picture and has nothing to play for in these remaining games, while the team has some young defenders they want to get a look at it.
Yeo called the decision an “organizational decision” and that it was made “for what’s best for the Philadelphia Flyers going forward.”
Yandle broke Doug Jarvis’ consecutive games played streak earlier this season when he played in his 965th consecutive game.
This is the first game he has missed since the 2008-09 season.
With Yandle sitting on Saturday, Arizona Coyotes forward Phil Kessel now has the longest active consecutive games streak at 968 games. Assuming he played in every Coyotes game the remainder of the season he would finish the season at 982 games, just seven behind Yandle for the NHL record.
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.