Playing Career
The Los Angeles Kings selected Sydor seventh overall in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft. He played four seasons with the Kamloops Blazers of the Western Hockey League (WHL) and won a Memorial Cup championship in 1992. Sydor originally began his Memorial Cup championship season in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Kings, but was sent back to the WHL after 18 games.
In his first full season with the Kings, Sydor tallied 29 points and helped the club to their first ever Stanley Cup Finals appearance. Led by Wayne Gretzky, they were, however, defeated by the Montreal Canadiens. Sydor developed with the Kings, but did not reach his prime until he was traded to the Dallas Stars in 1996. He recorded a career-high 40 assists and 48 points in 1996–97 with the Stars.
During his time with Dallas, Sydor became part of the team's big four defenceman, which included Derian Hatcher, Sergei Zubov and Richard Matvichuk. This quartet played a major role in capturing the Stanley Cup in 1999 against the Buffalo Sabres. In the regular season leading up to Sydor's first Stanley Cup championship, he matched his career-high 48 points and established a personal best 14 goals. The following year, Sydor helped the Stars to a second consecutive Finals appearance, but would suffer an injury against the New Jersey Devils. The Stars were kept from repeating as Stanley Cup champions, falling to the Devils in six games.
Sydor played in Dallas for seven and a half seasons before being traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the summer of 2003. He played only 49 games with Columbus before being traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for prospect Alexander Svitov midway through the season. Bolstering the Lightning's lineup for their 2004 playoff run, Sydor won his second Stanley Cup championship as the Lightning defeated the Calgary Flames in seven games. Sydor remained with the Lightning for one more season and was then traded back to the Dallas Stars on July 2, 2006 for a 2008 fourth round draft pick in a salary-dumping move.
Returning to Dallas in 2006–07, he became an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2007. Due to a late-season acquisition for defenceman Mattias Norstrom, Sydor became the odd man out on the Stars' blueline and did not receive an offer from the club. He instead signed a two-year, $5 million contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins. In his second season with the Penguins, he was traded back to Dallas for his third stint with the club on November 16, 2008, in exchange for Phillippe Boucher.
On September 3, 2009, Sydor was invited to the St. Louis Blues training camp for the 2009-10 season,. On September 25, Sydor signed a one-year contract with the Blues, serving primarily as a seventh defenceman. He announced his retirement from the NHL as a player on July 13, 2010.
Read more about this topic: Darryl Sydor
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