Byfuglien Watch 2020: One Last Attempt To Trade Him

Two weeks ago it was rumored that the season long, drawn out saga between the @Winnipeg Jets and @Dustin Byfuglien was reaching a conclusion of sorts with a proposed contract termination. basically, the Jets were going to put Big Buff on waivers and then once he cleared, would be free to a mutually agreed contract termination that would make Byfuglien an unrestricted free agent and maybe more importantly, give General Manager Kevin Chveldayoff a bunch of Salary Cap space to work with leading up to the trading deadline.

Since that day, Jets fans have kept an eye on the daily NHL waiver wire postings that are made public at around noon CST, to see Byfuglien’s name on the list which would be an indication that the termination process has started and that we’d be 24-48 hours away from this being completed… But day after day, Buff’s name hasn’t come up and with the Deadline now four days away, fans are staring to wonder: “what is taking so long?”

Turns out the delay in making things officially official is that Chevy and the Jets are making one last ditch effort to get something of any kind of value in return for Buff. As reported again by TSN’s Frank Seravalli, the Jets are still making and possibly taking calls to see if they can get a team to trade Byfuglien.

While it seems unlikely that another NHL team would trade for a 34 year old defenseman who will more than likely miss this entire season and may not ever lace up for an NHL game ever again, there is slight potential that Byfuglien could be talked into undergoing a quick rehab and possible playoff run this season or failing that, a team could convince him to play out the final year of his contract for the 2020-21 season.

Those talks obviously can’t happen while Dustin is still technically under contract – albeit suspended without pay – to the Jets.

If a team were to trade for Dustin and he remained committed to no longer playing, the team that trades for him could keep him suspended and eventually terminate the contract just like Winnipeg plans to do anyway.

Two teams that Seravalli suggests could be potential landing spots for Byfuglien would be the @Florida Panthers, where he could reunite with Joel Quenneville and Dale Tallon who were his head coach and GM back during his time with the @Chicago Blackhawks. There is a chance the @Minnesota Wild could also be sold on a trade, as it would be bringing home the Roseau, Minnesota native and the appeal of closing out his career in his home state would be enticing enough to play out that final contract year.

As for what a trade would look like? One has to imagine it would for low round – think fifth or sixth round – draft pick, but filled with all sorts of conditions based on the potential of a Byfuglien return, and just how much of an impact he would bring to his new team after nearly a full season off. Those conditions could easily see the addition of more draft picks in higher rounds.

And so it goes, we will continue to wait for a resolution to this whole situation which may not even be settled before the Trade Deadline. If Buff isn’t traded, and the Jets don’t have a pressing need to clear up a bunch of cap space before the deadline, they decide to terminate the contract after the deadline as planned, but will prevent any other team from signing and adding him to their playoff roster.