Major trade rumor involving big, bad defenseman.

There is some belief that the budget concious Winnipeg Jets will look to trade soon to be free agent defenseman Dustin Byfuglien prior to the trade deadline, and on Monday hockey insider Elliotte Friedman touched on one of the rumors involving such a trade.

During an interview with Jeff Blair and Ken Reid on 590's Prime time Sports on Monday Friedman pointed to one team in particular as a likely candidate for a trade. Friedman believes that the high asking price from Winnipeg will limit the number of teams willing to deal, and in fact believes that only a team who can sign Byfuglien long term would make such a trade, that team according to Friedman is the Flordia Panthers.

It makes a lot of sense when you break it down, the Panthers have a very deep system, and could certainly afford to pay the price the Jets will be asking in terms of prospects and picks, and there's also a connection for Byfuglien in Florida. Dale Tallon, currently the man moulding the team to his vision as the Florida Panthers general manager, was a member of the Blackhawks organization that drafted Byfuglien in 2003.

Friedman stated during the interview that the two men have maintained an amicable relationship over the years, and that Tallon's familiarity with Byfuglien could be enough to make him believe he could add another big bruising defenseman long term to what is an already impressive blue line, and significantly improving his roster.

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