An explosive skater with outstanding passing and puck-handling skills, Yandle has become one of the best offensive defensemen in the NHL. He's a consistent leader at the position in assists, power-play assists and power-play points, has one of the game's most lethal shots and he's established himself as one of the game's best power-play quarterbacks.

An explosive skater with outstanding passing and puck-handling skills, Yandle has become one of the best offensive defensemen in the NHL. He's a consistent leader at the position in assists, power-play assists and power-play points, has one of the game's most lethal shots and he's established himself as one of the game's best power-play quarterbacks.

His NHL career, however, started rather humbly.

Despite scoring 54 points (14 goals, 40 assists) in 34 games at the Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, Yandle lasted until the fourth round of the 2005 NHL Draft, when the Phoenix Coyotes selected him with the No. 105 pick.

Yandle scored 84 points (25 goals, 59 assists) and was plus-50 in 66 games for Moncton of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League to earn the Emile Bouchard Trophy as the league's top defenseman during the 2005-06 season. He was also named the Canadian Hockey League's Defenseman of the Year after helping Moncton to the QMJHL championship and a berth in the Memorial Cup, where he scored three goals in five games.

Yandle made his NHL debut in the 2006-07 season opener Oct. 11. He scored his first NHL point, an assist, in his second game but was sent to San Antonio of the American Hockey League after seven games.

After playing the first half of 2007-08 with San Antonio, Yandle returned to the Coyotes and scored his first NHL goal in a 3-2 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers on Dec. 18, 2007. In 2009-10, he had his first 82-game season in the NHL, led the Coyotes at plus-16 and tied for the team lead with 16 power-play points.

Yandle was traded to the New York Rangers on March 1, 2015 and scored 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in 19 Stanley Cup Playoff games that season. Scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent, he was traded to the Florida Panthers on June 20, 2016, and three days later signed a seven-year contract. He scored an NHL-career high 62 points (nine goals, 53 assists) during his third season with the Panthers in 2018-19.

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