‘He knew how to entertain on and off the ice': Cam Neely and Bob Sweeney fondly remember ex-Bruins teammate Lyndon Byers

Boston Globe

09-07-2025

A native of Nipawin, Saskatchewan, Byers played 261 games across nine seasons in Boston. He became a fan favorite/cult hero shortly after the franchise took him in the second round of the 1982 NHL Draft.
A prolific scorer during his junior days — he netted 32 goals in back-to-back seasons with the WHL's Regina Pats — Byers morphed into an energetic enforcer at the NHL level. To wit: He collected 613 penalty minutes in 145 games from 1987-90.
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A prolific scorer during his junior days, Lyndon Byers morphed into an energetic enforcer at the NHL level.
Bill Brett/Globe Staff
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'The thing I think people don't realize about LB, he was a talented offensive player coming out of junior hockey, but he also could take care of himself,' said Sweeney, himself a 1982 Bruins draftee who is now the president of the Boston Bruins Foundation.
Byers was a colorful character who fit in perfectly with the rough and tumble Bruins teams of the late 1980s that included heavy hitters Jay Miller and Nevin Markwart alongside Cam Neely, the league's preeminent power forward.
A member of the 1988 team that broke the Canadiens' 45-year playoff stranglehold on the Bruins, Byers played on two Stanley Cup Final teams.
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Cam Neely always knew Lyndon Byers had his back.
Bob Dean/Globe Staff
Byers took on all customers, and Neely, his close friend and now the franchise's president, appreciated the attitude of his fellow right winger.
'One of the things about a guy like LB, he probably went into every game thinking, 'I may have to fight today.' And that's a different mind-set to have as a hockey player, as an athlete. It's like, 'Wow, I might have to fight.' And that was certainly the case when you go into Philly and you could just see how wound up he was, knowing that that probably will take place. Like it did enough times in various buildings, but in Philly in particular,' Neely said. 'But just knowing that he's got your back. Any time that he was in the lineup, you knew he had your back. No matter who you were on the team, everybody felt like, 'OK, we've got someone that's got our back,' and that was LB.'
Neely said Byers knew when it was time to drop the gloves but also when it was time to drop a comical line to loosen up his teammates.
The man knew how to read the room.
'He loved to have a good time. No question. Funny man. But you grew up in Saskatchewan, you're a little bit of a different breed, and I can say that lovingly because I spent 10 years of my life there. So those Saskatchewan boys are different. It's an interesting way to grow up. Hockey's a big part of it,' said Neely. 'I've met a lot of really good people through LB that played the game that are from Saskatchewan. But it was his sense of humor, and he knew the timing of it to get the room loosened up a little bit. He did a really good job of that. Maybe sometimes a little too much, but he knew when to loosen it up and when to tighten it up.'
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Cam Neely said of friend and former Bruins teammate Lyndon Byers: "He loved to have a good time. No question."
Grossfeld, Stan Globe Staff
Byers later worked as a radio host at WAAF for nearly 25 years, often regaling listeners with tales from his playing days.
It was a second career that surprised neither Neely nor Sweeney.
'That was kind of meant to be for him. He was not shy. The great thing about hanging out with LB, I could just let him do his thing and I could just sit in the corner and enjoy the show,' said Neely. 'He knew it was about entertainment, and he knew how to entertain both on and off the ice.'
Sweeney appreciated how Byers, who was known for starting sentences with 'not for nothing,' never took himself too seriously on the air.
'He would always do the 'Sports Minute,' and he would screw something up or whatever,' said Sweeney, 'and his listeners would always call in and say, 'LB, that's the NBA, not the WNBA,' or whatever it was. And he'd be like, 'Yeah, whatever, kid. Get over it, guy.' '
Neely said a memory that will stick with him was seeing Byers during the New Blood, New Beginnings Centennial Era Night at TD Garden on Jan. 20, 2024.
'Looking back now, for him to be on the ice and be received the way he did by the fans, because they certainly appreciated the way he played as a Bruin, and for him to experience that with his wife and [son] Will in the building, I think that probably meant the world to him to be able to have that experience,' said Neely. 'He was long from his playing days before he had his son. So, I think for his son to see what he meant to Bruins fans, I think was something very special for LB.'
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Jim McBride can be reached at