@Dustin Byfuglien is now officially a former Winnipeg Jet.

The long-awaited news was made official by the NHL and @Winnipeg Jets on Friday morning.

The seven month long saga started back in September of 2019 with Byfuglien not reporting to Jets camp resulting in a suspension without pay by the club, and then a grievance filed on his behalf by the NHL Players Association in November. In all amongst that was news that Byfuglien on his own without an official go-ahead from the Jets went for surgery on his ankle in October.

It had appeared that the case of Byfuglien and the Jets started to be picked up by the NHLPA and the NHL who each realized this one issue could balloon into something with far more league-wide implications on how teams and players interact at the end of each season with medical exams and that the case was going to be heard in arbitration. with the PA / Buff having a solid case that the Jets may have erred in how they diagnosed Byfuglien.

In the end though, it was rumored that Dustin has stopped rehabbing his injury altogether, thus taking away the need for arbitration.

It’s a bit of a sad if not predictable end for a player loved by pretty much all Jets fans and one of the more unique personalities in the game today.