Paul Boutilier, Sydney Native and Former NHLer, Dies

The hockey community in Cape Breton is mourning Paul Boutilier, a former NHL defenseman from Sydney whose career reached the sport’s biggest stage. When a player from a smaller hockey market makes it to the NHL, people back home never quite stop claiming him, and Boutilier clearly left that kind of footprint. Stories like this remind you how quickly the game moves and how long the names still matter in local rinks, old-timer conversations, and family scrapbooks.