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Tyler Paul Myers (born February 1, 1990) is a Canadian–American professional ice hockey defenceman and alternate captain for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the first round, 12th overall, in the 2008 NHL entry draft. At the end of the 2009–10 season, Myers won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's best rookie. Standing at tall, he is one of the tallest active players in the NHL, and was nicknamed " The Big Easy" or " Big Tex" when he started his NHL career, because he was born in Houston. After moving to Vancouver, Myers earned the nickname " Chaos Giraffe" from fans.
Born in Houston, Myers grew up in Calgary. Internationally he represented Canada, and has won gold medals at the 2008 IIHF World U18 Championships, 2009 World Junior Championships, and 2023 IIHF World Championships.
He was selected 12th overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2008 NHL entry draft, after they traded the Los Angeles Kings a third-round pick to move up from the 13th spot. The following season, Myers helped the Rockets to a 2009 Ed Chynoweth Cup championship following a junior career-high 42-point regular season. Scoring 20 points during the Rockets playoff run, Myers was instrumental the franchise's third WHL title and was selected as the WHL Playoff MVP. Following Myers' WHL championship win with the Rockets, he was signed to a three-year, entry-level contract with the Buffalo Sabres on May 11, 2009.
Myers quickly established himself as the top defenseman on the Sabres roster, leading the club in average ice time per game in his rookie season. On December 16, 2009, he registered 28:32 of ice time in a regulation loss to the Ottawa Senators despite being one of a much-publicized group of Sabres players struck with food poisoning the night before. The following month, Myers recorded his first multi-goal game on January 8, 2010. He scored twice on the powerplay, including the game-winner, as the Sabres beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3–2. He also assisted Tim Kennedy on the Sabres' first goal.
Scoring 10 points and leading all rookies in average ice time (24 minutes and 42 seconds per game) for contests in January 2010, Myers was named the NHL Rookie of the Month. He completed his first NHL season leading league rookie defensemen, as well as Sabres defensemen, playing every game that season with 11 goals and 37 assists adding up to a career high of 48 points and getting 1 point in the playoffs from 1 goal. In the off-season, Myers was awarded with the Calder Memorial Trophy on June 23, 2010 at the NHL Awards Ceremony in Las Vegas, beating out forward Matt Duchene of the Colorado Avalanche and goaltender Jimmy Howard of the Detroit Red Wings.
On November 15, 2010 Myers scored his fifth goal of the season in a 4–3 overtime win against the Vancouver Canucks. Myers got another overtime goal in a 3–2 win against the Florida Panthers on February 10, 2011. Myers finished the season missing only 2 games with 10 goals and 27 assists adding up to 37 points and getting 6 points in the playoffs from 1 goal and 5 assists. On September 15, 2011 the Sabres signed Myers to a 7-year, $38.5 million contract. On March 13, 2012, Myers was suspended for 3 games for boarding Montreal Canadiens forward Scott Gomez on March 12, 2012. On October 14, 2012, Myers signed with Klagenfurt AC of the Austrian Erste Bank Hockey League during the 2012 NHL lockout.
On April 12, 2013, the Sabres announced that Myers had broken a bone in his leg during the team's 5–1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens the night before and would miss the remainder of the season.
Myers’ 2015–16 season was ended early by hip and knee surgeries announced by the Jets on March 24, 2016.
During the 2016–17 season, Myers would play in 11 games before he suffered an undisclosed lower-body injury (unrelated to the hip and knee surgeries he had the previous offseason) in a 3–2 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche on November 11, 2016. Surgery was not initially expected to be required, however after being out of the lineup for 3 months, it was announced that Myers would in fact have surgery to repair the lower body injury, ending Myers second consecutive season due to surgery.
Myers would stay healthy for the duration of the 2017–18 season, playing in all 82 regular season games for the first time since his rookie season, and scoring 6 goals and 30 assists for 36 points while averaging 21:26 of ice time as the Jets finished 2nd in the Central Division, and made the playoffs for the first time since 2014–15. The Jets ultimately made it to the Western Conference Final, losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games.
On June 27, 2024 the Canucks re-signed Myers for a three-year, $9 million contract. He would subsequently play his 1,000th NHL game on October 19, 2024, becoming the 400th skater to achieve the milestone.
On January 20, 2025, Myers was handed a three-game suspension for cross-checking Evan Bouchard in a game against the Edmonton Oilers on January 18, 2025.
Myers was a part of the national team that earned gold at the 2008 IIHF World U18 Championships in Kazan, Russia. He was later named to the Canadian under-20 team for the 2009 World Junior Championships in Ottawa, along with Kelowna Rockets teammate Jamie Benn, and helped Canada to a record-tying fifth straight gold medal. On April 29, 2010, Myers was named to the Team Canada roster for the 2010 IIHF World Championship. He was part of a young squad that finished without a medal.
His younger maternal half-brother, Quentin Grimes, is an American basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Grimes and Myers are the first set of brothers to play in the NHL and NBA.
Myers and his wife were married in 2014. The couple have three children together.
| 2005–06 | Notre Dame Hounds AAA | SMHL | 78 | — |
| 2005–06 | Kelowna Rockets | WHL | 2 | 2 |
| 2006–07 | Kelowna Rockets | WHL | 78 | — |
| 2007–08 | Kelowna Rockets | WHL | 97 | 12 |
| 2008–09 | Kelowna Rockets | WHL | 105 | 29 |
| 2009–10 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 32 | 4 |
| 2010–11 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 40 | 16 |
| 2011–12 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 33 | — |
| 2012–13 | EC KAC | EBEL | 37 | — |
| 2012–13 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 32 | — |
| 2013–14 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 58 | — |
| 2014–15 | Buffalo Sabres | NHL | 61 | — |
| 2014–15 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 16 | 2 |
| 2015–16 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 72 | — |
| 2016–17 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 13 | — |
| 2017–18 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 48 | 8 |
| 2018–19 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 63 | 4 |
| 2019–20 | Vancouver Canucks | NHL | 49 | 24 |
| 2020–21 | Vancouver Canucks | NHL | 51 | — |
| 2021–22 | Vancouver Canucks | NHL | 66 | — |
| 2022–23 | Vancouver Canucks | NHL | 76 | — |
| 2023–24 | Vancouver Canucks | NHL | 77 | 6 |
| 2024–25 | Vancouver Canucks | NHL | 74 | — |
| 2008 | Canada | U18 | 10 | |
| 2009 | Canada | WJC | 2 | |
| 2010 | Canada | WC | 7th | 4 |
| 2014 | Canada | WC | 5th | 6 |
| 2023 | Canada | WC | 10 | |
| WHL West Second All-Star Team | 2009 | |
| Playoff MVP | 2009 | |
| Ed Chynoweth Cup champion | 2009 | |
| Memorial Cup All-Star Team | 2009 | |
| Calder Memorial Trophy | 2009–10 |
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