Veteran defenseman Keith Yandle unsure about playing this season

When last season ended, Keith Yandle’s ironman streak had come to an end and after being a healthy scratch down the stretch, it seemed like the 35-year-old was going to be calling it a career. However, his agent Jerry Buckley told ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski that the veteran hasn’t decided whether or not he wants to play this season and that teams are in discussions with him about the defenseman.

Yandle is coming off a tough 2021-22 campaign. After Florida bought him out last July, he signed with Philadelphia where the expectation was that he’d help boost their production from the back end. Unfortunately for them, that didn’t happen. Instead, he managed just a single goal in 77 games along with 18 assists, his worst output since his rookie year back in 2007-08. While plus/minus doesn’t carry the value it once did, it’s worth noting that he was -47 which was the lowest in the NHL.

At first glance, Yandle would be a prime candidate for a PTO deal as many veterans will be settling for over the next couple of weeks to ensure they’ll be at a training camp. However, Buckley indicated that it’s unlikely that the blueliner would be willing to go that route and that not having a contract to start the season wouldn’t automatically mean that his career would be over. Instead, he would be looking for the right fit.

With over 1,100 career regular season games and 619 points under his belt, Yandle has had quite a successful career, especially considering he was a fourth-round pick back in 2005. We’ll see over the coming weeks if he’s able to find the right fit to play a 17th NHL season.