5 NHL teams that should sign defenseman Dustin Byfuglien
By Mike Zawisza
After nearly a year of absence from the ice, Dustin Byfuglien and the Winnipeg Jets have agreed to part ways. With the veteran defenseman now on the market, there are surely a handful of teams that should come knocking for his services.
Dustin Byfuglien has been one of the league’s most explosive defensemen during the last decade. His lethal combination of speed, size, strength and skill have allowed him to break 50 points five times, pocket seven seasons of 15 or more goals and capture the Stanley Cup with Chicago.
However, time is the ultimate equalizer and the now 35-year-old is starting to show signs of wear and tear. After playing just 42 games last season for the Winnipeg Jets due to injury (while still racking up 31 points) Byfuglien took a leave of absence from the team this past September to recoup and reflect. Byfuglien then had surgery on his ankle in October which put further strain on his relationship with the Jets.
After a year of speculation regarding Byfuglien’s future with Winnipeg, the two parties announced they were mutually parting ways, terminating the remaining year on his five-year contract.
Despite potential injury concerns and his age, Byfuglien is still a highly effective defenseman and has never posted a Corsi For percentage below 50 in his NHL career, according to Hockey Reference. Ostensibly, a case could be made for any team to sign the truculent defenseman, but we’re going to narrow the list down to the five that make the most sense.
Honorable Mentions
Before we delve into the top five, let’s give a couple shout outs to teams who are honorable mentions. Byfuglien would make sense, but maybe not as much sense as others on the list.
Columbus Blue Jackets
The Blue Jackets are an interesting team in the sense that they just saw a handful of their biggest name players walk away last offseason. Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky and Matt Duchene all spurned Columbus in favor of greener pastures, but despite that, the Jackets have remained a playoff contender.
They’ve got the cap space to sign Byfuglien and he would skate nicely alongside the young phenom Zach Werenski. However, it’s worth questioning whether or not Byfuglien would want to spend the twilight of his career in Columbus as a bubble team.
Calgary Flames
The Flames are sort of a dark horse here. They’re a fun offensive squad with a solid defense headed by Mark Giordano. The main reason they should be considering the services of Byfuglien is that six of their nine defensemen are on expiring contracts, including T.J. Brodie and Travis Hamonic.
Even if the Flames bring back those two, they should still have money left over to add Byfuglien to the fray. Besides, who wouldn’t want to see Byfuglien and Matthew Tkachuk cause absolute chaos together vs Zack Kassian in the Battle of Alberta.