Winnipeg Jets say goodbye to Dustin Byfuglien with mutual contract termination
By Mary Clarke
The Winnipeg Jets and Dustin Byfuglien have mutually terminated the defenseman’s contract after seven seasons, officially putting him on the free agent market.
No one should be surprised to see the end of the relationship between Dustin Byfuglien and the Winnipeg Jets. The pair had been headed for a messy breakup since the fall, when Byfuglien was given a leave of absence from the team in September 2019 after playing his final game with the team this time last year.
On Friday, the Jets and Byfuglien have officially come to terms on terminating his five-year, $38 million contract signed back in 2016. The termination makes Byfuglien a unrestricted free agent to sign wherever he chooses for the 2020-21 season and beyond.
The Jets and Byfuglien had been heading down this road for months now. In early February, TSN reported that the pair were looking to mutually terminate Byfuglien’s contract before the trade deadline. Byfuglien did not play a single game for the Jets in the 2019-20 season after taking his leave of absence — as he was reportedly contemplating retirement — which then spiraled into him getting ankle surgery in October 2019 which sidelined him until the new year.
There were rumors before the trade deadline that Byfuglien was going to be moved as a salary cap dump, but at the end of the day the defenseman was not traded out of Winnipeg.
With this move, the Jets now have salary cap flexibility and Byfuglien can sign anywhere in the league — if he so choses to. According to TSN’s Frank Seravalli, Byfuglien also walked away from $14 million owed to him this season and next by agreeing to resolve his grievance and terminate his contract.
It’s hard to imagine Byfuglien suiting up for another team, given the retirement rumors that have followed him over the last year. However, should a team sign a short deal with Byfuglien, the defenseman is a reliable 30-point producer with a big shot and an even bigger hitting capacity.
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