Dane Byers

Did You Know?

• Byers' brother Cole Byers also played professional hockey for the Hull Stingrays in the British Elite Ice Hockey League.
• The Byers brothers are cousins of former NHL enforcer-turned-radio host Lyndon Byers.

Playing career

Byers began his junior hockey career with the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL in 2002-03, recording eight goals and 14 points in 49 games. The following season he scored nine goals and 17 points in 51 games, adding a goal and three points in six playoff contests. In 2004-05 he appeared in 65 games, tallying 11 goals and 20 points along with 181 penalty minutes, and contributed four goals and 10 points in 17 playoff games. He broke out offensively in 2005-06 with 21 goals and 48 points in 71 games, though the Raiders did not qualify for the playoffs. After that junior season, the New York Rangers assigned him to the Hartford Wolf Pack, where he had two assists in five games to finish 2005-06. He spent the entire 2006-07 season with Hartford, posting 17 goals and 47 points with 213 penalty minutes in 78 games, and scored two goals in seven playoff games. In 2007-08 he recorded 23 goals and 46 points in 73 games for Hartford, adding a goal and three points in five playoff contests, and made his NHL debut that season, going pointless in one game with the Rangers. A knee injury suffered on October 31, 2008 against the Worcester Sharks caused him to miss most of the 2008-09 season; in nine games he had four goals and seven points, then returned for the playoffs with three goals and four points in six games. He rebounded in 2009-10 with 25 goals and 52 points in 74 games for the Wolf Pack, and appeared in five games with the Rangers, scoring his first NHL goal on October 30, 2009. Several days later he received an automatic one-game suspension for instigating a fight with Tanner Glass in the final five minutes of a 4-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on November 3. He began the 2010-11 season with Hartford, notching three goals and nine points in 16 games, before being traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets on November 11, 2010 in exchange for Chad Kolarik.