Devastating update on the status of Dustin Byfuglien.

Bad news for Big Buff.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Devastating update on the status of Dustin Byfuglien.
Carlos Gonzalez/Minneapolis Star Tribun

The Winnipeg Jets have confirmed their fans' worst fears.

On Saturday night the Jets faced off against the Minnesota Wild and not only did they fail to pick up the always important win, but they also saw arguably one of their most impactful players go down as the result of an injury. The Jets took the 3 - 1 loss but all the talk after the game was on the subject of the status of veteran defenseman Dustin Byfuglien.

Byfuglien was injured late in the game's 3rd period when he was the victim of a big hit courtesy of Minnesota Wild forward Luke Kunin. The fact that Byfuglien was injured on a hit at all would come as a surprise to many given his reputation as one of the most physically dominant players in the entire National Hockey League. Initially I though that the impact of the hit itself had caused Byfuglien, who's feet were firmly planted at the time, to roll his ankle under his own weight, but upon closer inspection the shoulder to shoulder body check had very little to do with the injury at all.

Instead on the multiple angles that I have now had the chance to see, you can clearly see that Kunin's foot and ankle collide with Byfuglien's foot and ankle just prior to both men making body contract with one another. It is that impact that cause Byfuglien's ankle to buckle under the pressure and it also explains why such a big strong guy like Byfuglien was laid low by such a hit. It doesn't really matter how tough you are, if your ankle is hit and buckled in such a manner you are not going to be having a good time.

Now according to a report from Ted Wyman of the Winnipe Sun, Jets head coach Paul Marice has informed the media that Byfuglien will be out for a considerable length of time. The way Maurice phrased things was to suggest that Byfuglien would be evaluated after the National Hockey League's All Star break but that he could be out even longer than that. This means that Byfuglien will miss at minimum one month of action as a result of this injury, and it sure sounds like the Jets are leaving the door open for it to be even longer than that.

Devastating news for the Jets, an that is putting it mildly.

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