NHL insider drops a bombshell update on the Dustin Byfuglien situation.

The Dustin Byfuglien situation sounds like it is about to get very ugly and it sounds like it could eventually lead to a split between the veteran defenseman and his current team, the Winnipeg Jets. 

As we all know now thanks to reports earlier this week, the talented blue liner has now gone under the knife to have surgery to repair his damaged ankle and as a result will be out of action for the foreseeable future. This means that we likely will not be seeing Byfuglien any time soon however it now also appears as though the player does intend to return to the National Hockey League to finish out his current contract, although there is now considerable speculation regarding whether or not that will be with the Winnipeg Jets organization. 

In a recent "Headlines" segment Sportsnet's National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman dropped some bombshells regarding the Byfuglien situation, not the least of which was his reveal that the Jets organization has effectively been gagged by the National Hockey League here. Friedman made it crystal clear that the league had all but forbidden the Jets to speak about the issue publicly, and added that this was why Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff had been so reserved in his comments about the situation.

""Now here's what I believe the NHL slash Jets side is in all of this. First of all the Jets have been told that they can't say anything, which is why Kevin Cheveldayoff has been so guard in his comments," revealed Friedman.

That though was only the beginning of the report from Friedman, he then went on to reveal that there now appears to be a clear difference in how both the NHL and the Jets view things when compared to how Dustin Byfuglien, his management at Octagon Sports, and the NHL's Players Association view the situation. According to Friedman the Jets and the NHL believe that Byfuglien made it clear that he intended to retire and all but kept his current ankle injury a secret from both the team and the organization. Meanwhile on the other side of this debate, Byfuglien and the NHLPA believe that everyone knew the big defenseman was playing injured during the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs and that although he was contemplating potentially calling it a career he has since made it clear that it is his intention to return to competitive play in the NHL. 

Perhaps the most fascinating moment of the segment however was the reveal that there may now be a very large rift between the Jets organization and the player, one that may not be able to be mended. Friedman did not come out and say that the two sides will not be able to able to mend fences moving forward, but he certainly left open the possibility that neither of the parties involved here may want anything to do with one another after this entire mess has been settled. 

""The other part of this story Ron, that is still to be determined is that if Dustin Byfuglien want to play, does Winnipeg still want him? And does he still want to play for Winnipeg? Because in this situation with everything that we've talked about here there are going to be questions about both."

If you want to check out the full segment you can view it in the short video provided below.