Rumor: Keith Yandle blocked a 3-way trade from the Panthers.

The situation between veteran National Hockey League defenseman Keith Yandle and the Florida Panthers is truly a bizarre one. Early last week Yandle was not even practicing with the Panthers' main roster and it looked like his ironman streak of 866 consecutive NHL games would come to an end as the result of being a healthy scratch.

There were rumblings that this move had been by Yandle falling out of favor with Panthers' management, something that pointed to issues behind the scenes contributing to this problem rather than on-ice performance. Now we still don't know for certain what took place between Yandle and the Panthers, but NHL insider Nick Kypreos may have provided a gigantic hint in that regard on his latest podcast.

"The talk is Boston, Islanders, maybe a 3 way trade, maybe Yandle ending up with the Boston Bruins," revealed Kypreos on the podcast. "I'm sure [the Panthers] would have to eat some money on that but it didn't come to fruition. It appears he stood his ground."

Not only did the trade fall through for rookie general manager Bill Zito in Florida, but it sounds like he may have been seriously reprimanded as well for the way that this entire fiasco played out.

"He was done, he was kicked to the curb, it was over and then in 48 hours that guy goes back on to the first power play," added Kypreos. "Now I am told that this was all ownership driven, that he needed to come in and address it. My understanding is that Keith Yandle and his agent got an apology from his management team in Florida."

The fact that the Panthers management team allegedly had to apologize to the player, at the request of their ownership no less, speaks to just how poorly this may have been handled behind the scenes. Whether or not you think the Panthers management had the right to make the moves they did, you do not want to earn a reputation for poorly treating your veteran players. This is something that Panthers ownership seems to understand very clearly.

"I don't know where Florida goes from here but I think owner wasn't pleased with the way it was handled," Kypreos said in conclusion.