What happened to Dustin Byfuglien?

[Cricket Green]

Greater respect for Byfuglien than sideshow Marleau. It'll always be Howe's record, jackoff.

 

[SmoggyTwinkles]

He lives in Northern Minnesota. He can buy a dream cabin on a great fishing lake, have the best fishing boat on the lake, and the best hunting cabin and outfit in the county, and still have $25 million in the bank left over. It's a wonderful place to raise a family. He literally has 10,000 lakes less than a days driving if he wants to try a different lake. And, they love hockey, and hockey players. It's a dream come true if you can afford it, and either don't care about winter, or vacation down south in the winter.

If you've got $25 million left over, you can care as much as you want about any type of uncomfortable weather and go live in Hawaii or wherever in the offseason.

The guy could have all that and just live off the interest he accumulates.

 

[GreatSaveEssensa]

Just want to say it makes me happy to see the respect he still gets. Especially from Jets fans. His sudden absence made a huge dent in the Jets lineup, and the way it went down was certainly unusual. So it is nice to see people respecting the player after all is said and done and acknowledging Buff doing what is best for Buff. Good on y’all

He will always be respected and missed in Peg city.

One of the most memorable Big Buff moments was about 20 seconds into the Jets very first exhibition game of 2.0. two massive hits and a fight to show the Winnipeg fans what NHL hockey is all about. And in that instant he became a Winnipeg Jets legend.

 

[cbcwpg]

 

[JFleegs]

Nice guy and funny, glad he’s enjoying life away from the game.

 

[MyNameIsTaken]

He will always be respected and missed in Peg city.

One of the most memorable Big Buff moments was about 20 seconds into the Jets very first exhibition game of 2.0. two massive hits and a fight to show the Winnipeg fans what NHL hockey is all about. And in that instant he became a Winnipeg Jets legend.

I ran out and got a Byfuglien shirt before that game even ended. I agree on all counts!

 

[JetsWillFly4Ever]

I’m pretty sure I saw that he hates hockey. He hates his job, and has the luxury to be able to quit.

Nearly all reports say Buff loved hockey, but not everything that comes with playing in the NHL (training, media, politics, business side).

His ankle was bothering him and he decided to retire, not some crazy story really. The only weird part was that it happened the day before the season started.

Miss the guy like hell, most entertaining player in Jets 2.0 history for sure and one of the most entertaining in the league for a long time.

 

[TS Quint]

Buff just seemed like he didn’t really like hockey or maybe the preparation it took to be a NHL player. He just happened to be really good at it.

 

[2 others]

Buff seems the type of guy who just stops doing things without telling anybody. My guess is he had a clear moment and realized it wasn't worth it anymore. (It is a dangerous sport.)

 

[Artorius Horus T]

Who knows what happens to some hockey players.

Ex KHL star and ex Washington Capitals prospect Oskar Osala, decided to pursue professional golf career
about year and a half ago ago, at 31, because he didn't like hockey anymore.

 

[Stuzchuk]

When was this again?

this should give you a better idea
NHL Stats

I really liked big Buff... too bad he left early but like other mentioned, he made is money and now spending time with his family while he's still young

Erik Karlsson	R	D	479	100	285	385	-21	252	0.80	233	150	2	18	1,431	7.0	25:42
Nicklas Lidstrom	L	D	388	62	212	274	112	142	0.71	125	143	6	10	885	7.0	24:45
Mike Green	R	D	557	117	263	380	70	400	0.68	201	176	3	20	1,412	8.3	22:58
P.K. Subban	R	D	434	63	215	278	35	532	0.64	150	127	1	9	1,082	5.8	24:34
Andrei Markov	L	D	517	67	262	329	27	263	0.64	146	176	7	13	894	7.5	24:23
Kris Letang	R	D	555	80	270	350	58	402	0.63	202	140	8	16	1,376	5.8	23:24
Brent Burns	R	D	612	129	247	376	0	461	0.61	230	142	4	20	1,704	7.6	22:36
Mark Streit	L	D	592	78	282	360	-48	304	0.61	186	172	2	11	1,109	7.0	22:27
Duncan Keith	L	D	670	73	333	406	161	336	0.61	257	133	16	13	1,459	5.0	25:44
Dustin Byfuglien	R	D	644	148	241	389	-29	762	0.60	237	148	4	32	2,000	7.4	21:04
Shea Weber	R	D	656	147	246	393	27	466	0.60	219	167	7	21	1,854	7.9	24:53
Kevin Shattenkirk	R	D	410	55	187	242	24	257	0.59	120	119	3	11	873	6.3	21:20
Roman Josi	L	D	334	52	138	190	4	109	0.57	122	63	5	10	727	7.2	24:32
Keith Yandle	L	D	654	72	295	367	-32	412	0.56	200	166	1	12	1,493	4.8	21:11
Dan Boyle	R	D	607	91	247	338	8	412	0.56	168	168	2	16	1,380	6.6	23:33
Tomas Kaberle	L	D	385	26	188	214	-42	84	0.56	98	115	1	4	634	4.1	21:54
Alex Pietrangelo	R	D	459	51	204	255	53	153	0.56	169	81	5	11	1,011	5.0	24:29
Lubomir Visnovsky	L	D	466	66	191	257	11	193	0.55	133	123	1	11	822	8.0	22:12
Sergei Gonchar	L	D	475	47	214	261	-6	280	0.55	106	153	2	11	840	5.6	22:21
Zdeno Chara	L	D	665	110	247	357	173	719	0.54	206	136	15	14	1,736	6.3	25:05
Ryan Suter	L	D	678	51	311	362	60	412	0.53	203	152	7	11	1,234	4.1	26:05
James Wisniewski	R	D	483	49	208	257	-25	384	0.53	138	114	5	7	949	5.2	21:50
Mark Giordano	L	D	537	80	205	285	24	476	0.53	164	111	10	9	1,090	7.3	22:46
Niklas Kronwall	L	D	623	71	258	329	5	358	0.53	179	143	7	13	908	7.8	22:57
Brian Campbell	L	D	674	55	299	354	57	152	0.53	196	154	4	9	999	5.5	24:22

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Brooks Orpik	L	D	603	185:55	2,027	86.73	1,178	52.04	251	11.06	97	4.18
Luke Schenn	R	D	566	150:52	1,775	81.99	928	42.12	427	18.82	170	7.37
Dan Girardi	R	D	691	206:35	1,655	56.35	1,484	51.19	436	14.94	294	9.93
Dion Phaneuf	L	D	660	222:23	1,639	54.75	984	33.32	493	16.48	259	8.43
Brent Seabrook	R	D	694	206:25	1,557	52.69	1,227	42.09	507	17.31	228	7.69
Dustin Byfuglien	R	D	644	191:07	1,491	60.25	511	19.56	457	17.63	452	17.28
Stephane Robidas	R	D	530	176:27	1,490	61.23	857	34.88	218	8.61	155	5.75
Shea Weber	R	D	656	222:41	1,476	49.37	1,068	34.65	377	12.37	274	8.83
Zdeno Chara	L	D	665	225:20	1,385	44.85	893	29.1	537	17.39	214	6.76
Matt Greene	R	D	484	146:18	1,342	93.18	782	45.61	298	23.32	48	2.32
Roman Polak	R	D	540	167:53	1,326	66.24	941	48.3	180	9.59	126	6.53
Mark Stuart	L	D	599	151:34	1,272	68.85	1,042	55.99	267	14.16	62	3.39
Robyn Regehr	L	D	580	162:56	1,267	52.73	760	31.57	285	11.55	90	3.37
Dennis Seidenberg	L	D	580	198:48	1,252	53.07	1,228	51.47	198	8.51	128	5.36
Nicklas Grossmann	L	D	581	162:18	1,248	64.71	891	46.78	269	13.83	84	4.3
Tim Gleason	L	D	545	154:43	1,228	57.25	868	39.85	221	9.88	143	6.37
Brad Stuart	L	D	549	181:06	1,186	57.19	899	43.41	292	14.23	128	5.3
Jan Hejda	L	D	588	168:38	1,157	44.84	1,058	41.85	234	9.38	157	6.19
Marc Methot	L	D	491	178:57	1,112	60.9	628	31.24	208	10.16	103	4.9
Douglas Murray	L	D	449	124:23	1,097	57.47	756	42.21	201	10.21	115	5.76
Drew Doughty	R	D	606	208:28	1,093	34	747	22.31	585	17.55	151	4.62
Anton Volchenkov	L	D	467	143:26	1,063	59.62	981	52.34	168	9.16	103	5.37
Braydon Coburn	L	D	640	191:52	1,042	42.02	899	36.38	379	15.31	227	8.71
Mark Fistric	L	D	325	120:02	1,033	102.09	456	48.2	105	10.53	74	8.61
Ladislav Smid	L	D	506	157:11	1,030	62.46	903	54.71	283	15.51	123	6.48

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[qqaz]

Dustin Byfuglien was at 1 point one of the best Defensemen in the National Hockey League. His freak size and strong physical play helped him become a good shut down defensemen and a scary person to play against. So much that he helped the 2010 blackhawks capture their first Stanley Cup in 48 years. He was a great lethal asset for the Winnipeg Jets but just last year his contract was terminated and ever since then hes been an unrestricted free agent. He hasn't signed with a team or played a single NHL Game since. So this begs the question, whats happened to big buff?

Here's the story.

Something that has gone mostly under the radar, and I've mentioned this in other Byfuglien threads before, is that he was raised by a single mother. Any mention of him in his youth describes him as shy, timid, laid back, quiet or the like. But his mother eventually married a former hockey player (4 total NHL games) who owned a sporting goods store when Buff was 13 (link).

Big Buff now has three kids of his own, and probably wants to be sure they get the kind of father figure he didn't have for so long. That's some added incentive to retire a bit early. And he's doing it in the way his surrogate father taught him. Hockey while you can, outdoor sports after that. Buff has mentioned before he might want to do a fishing show after his NHL career, and he's been in competitions before (link). It's not just a hobby for the guy, but more of a "next step".

But that doesn't mean the decision was on a whim. He was dealing with an injury, and the way to handle it was up in the air. His wife admitted that they struggled and stressed over the decision to walk away for 8 months (link). Continue with a physically demanding and dangerous job for a man that's already hurt, or move on to the guaranteed retirement plan for a comfortable lifestyle with your kids.

There you have it.

It's not just "he has money and likes fishing better than hockey."

An injury just sped up the plan. Living the outdoorsman lifestyle after hockey, just like his stepfather did. And he's doing it while being there for his kids like his biological father didn't.

 

[mjlee]

Lidstrom did the same thing. At the presser announcing he was retiring he said, "retiring today allows med to walk away from the game with pride, rather than have the game walk away from me." It's not as if he couldn't have played another year or two. He was healthy and the Wings would have happily offered him another contract. But he just felt that if he couldn't play at the level he wanted to, then he'd retire.

Now he lives in Västerås, trained the juniors for a couple of years. Which included securing the goal posts, opening the penalty box doors for the home team and assisting with cleaning the ice like any hockey dad does.

 

[GoJetsGo55]

There's not a game that goes by where I don't miss him being out there.

He was truly unique.

I have yet to see another player with his combination of size, speed, and scoring ability.

He would throw big hits from time to time but he was never really a "mad" player. There's about 3 games I remember seeing him play mad and he was absolutely dominant in each game. When he WANTED to be a physical force, he was unstoppable.

He was that ultimate deterrent too. "You want to play rough with us? Alright do you see that T-Rex sized individual over there? Yeah that's what we bring to the table." It hasn't been the same since we lost that.

With all that said, I am happy that he's happy. He deserves it.

 

[GoJetsGo55]

I mean, look at the the first highlight in this video. It took all of 10 in game seconds for him to become everyone's favorite player.

 

[Anglesmith]

As long as he sticks together, as a team, he'll be fine.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

I generally like my job.

A lot of people in my field do. We make video games all day.


That said I know more than a few people who became millionaires, and almost all of them eventually walked away in their 40's.
At some point you realise life is too short to work, and when you're set for several life-times, you don't need the stress of scrutiny.


At the end of the day, passion or not, a job is a job, like any other job.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

He should look into joining the WWE.

 

[Fig]

If he does a fishing show, I'd love for him to dig up Kipper and do a show together. Kipper also loves fishing.

 

[Little Bobby Boo]

I think his "exit" could have been more professional... then again its Byfuglien.

Hopefully he doesn't end up like Dustin Penner on twitter.

Oh god. Didn't realize Penner went down the same rabbit hole as Theo Fleury

 

[Voight]

Didn't want to live in Winnipeg anymore

 

[Voight]

When was this again?

From 2011-2017 he had some really good years and while he was never nominated for the Norris, he did get some support.

 

[GreatSaveEssensa]

I mean, look at the the first highlight in this video. It took all of 10 in game seconds for him to become everyone's favorite player.

Such a good video. Man I miss him. He would be just what the Jets need to have a fighting chance this playoffs.

 

[GrizzGreen]

Greater respect for Byfuglien than sideshow Marleau. It'll always be Howe's record, jackoff.

okay

 

[Royale With Cheese]

As a Jets fan, there’s not a game I see where I don’t wish he was on the team. A total game changer.

To the OP’s question though, it turns out he just didn’t want to play anymore. He left $14 million on the table in doing so. I didn’t like the way it unfolded that’s for sure, but he was a unique individual who just did what we wanted.