Dan Boyle Retires from NHL: Latest Comments and Reaction

On Wednesday, 17-year veteran defenseman Dan Boyle announced his retirement from the NHL in San Jose, California, per Curtis Pashelka of the Mercury News.

Boyle played for the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, San Jose Sharks and New York Rangers, compiling 605 career points and a minus-five rating in 1,093 games.

He spoke about his career, via Sean Leahy of Yahoo Sports:

"

I’ve been fortunate and blessed to have had the opportunity to do what I most love to do. All I wanted to do as a young boy was have the opportunity to play ONE game in the NHL. Over a thousand games later, this whole experience seems surreal. I want to thank all four organizations for the opportunity, my teammates and the FANS for this amazing run that I will cherish forever.

"

Despite spending the last two seasons with the Rangers, Boyle retired with the Sharks—a team he spent six productive seasons with: 

"

"Welcome back to the Sharks family." #SharksForLife#ThanksBoyler pic.twitter.com/8YXCXppMBh

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) October 5, 2016"

He recorded 269 points while in San Jose, which is a franchise record for defensemen, and appeared in 62 postseason games with the team.

Out of his 17 seasons in the league, he made the playoffs 12 times. He won a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004. 

Boyle wasn't the largest defenseman to patrol the blue line at 5'11", 194 pounds, but he was one of the best two-way rearguards of the 2000s.

He recorded seven seasons with 10-plus goals and five years with 40-plus assists.

Boyle went undrafted out of the University of Miami (Ohio) and caught on with the Panthers in 1998, where he spent three-plus seasons before being dealt to the Lightning. 

A two-time All-Star, he finished his career with the third-most points recorded by an undrafted defenseman (via Sportsnet Stats) and is 35th on the NHL's all-time points list for blueliners (via Yahoo Sports NHL).

Stats courtesy of Hockey-Reference.com.