Former Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Darryl Sydor has been arrested and charged with two counts of drunken driving in his home state of Minnesota, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Sydor, 43, was driving his 12-year old son to a hockey tournament when the vehicle he was driving was pulled over in Fridley, Minnesota, a Minneapolis suburb.
According to the criminal complaint, Sydor’s eyes were bloodshot and watery and his speech was slow and slurred. His blood-alcohol level was later tested to be a 0.30, more than four times the legal limit.
The second charge of second-degree drunken driving was due the aggravating factor of having a child in the vehicle.
Sydor, a defensemen, played in parts of two seasons with the Pens from after signing as a free agent in 2007, playing in 82 games with the club and scoring two goals and recording 13 assists. He also played in four playoff games in the Penguins run to the Stanley Cup final in 2008 that ended in a loss to the Detroit Red Wings.
The Penguins traded Sydor to Dallas in November of 2008.
In his 18-year NHL career, he also played for Dallas, Los Angeles, Tampa Bay, Columbus and Saint Louis. Since retiring, Sydor, a native Kamloops, British Columbia, has been a coach in the Minnesota Wild organization, and has been an assistant coach at the NHL level for the Wild since 2011.
“We are aware of the reports regarding Darryl Sydor. We are continuing to gather information and will have further comment at the appropriate time,” the team said in a press release.
Sydor is also part owner of the Kamloops Blazers, a junior team in the Western Hockey League, along with fellow former Penguins Jarome Iginla and Mark Recchi, Arizona Coyotes forward Shane Doan, and Canadian businessman Tom Gaglardi. The Blazers have not commented on Sydor’s arrest.
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