Buff worth his weight in gold

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This article was published 22/12/2014 (3999 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The relationship between Dustin Byfuglien and the city of Winnipeg hasn’t always been an easy one, but after some early adversity it just may turn out to be a bond destined to last.

Never has Byfuglien’s value to the Winnipeg Jets been as clear as now, while he holds this team’s blue-line together playing a brand of defence featuring not only style but substance.

When last we saw Buff on the back end, he was lost. Huffing and puffing while making critical errors in his own zone. Then-coach Claude Noel threw up his hands and moved him to the wing in a final act of desperation.

More telling than Noel’s lineup change just days before he was fired, however, was Paul Maurice’s decision not to reverse it upon his arrival in Winnipeg. He’d been watching the game film and he wanted no part of Byfuglien on the blue-line.

It was also Maurice who insisted coming out of camp this season Byfuglien would begin the season at forward, “and finish it,” there.

It appeared the Jets had traded their No. 1 D for a middle-six winger. The team was winning more than losing, and Byfuglien’s move from defence to forward had a more than a hint of addition by subtraction.

Never say never, however, and when the great Blue-line Plague of 2014 hit the Jets, Maurice needed answers, which Big 33 was the only body on his roster capable of supplying.

Not many teams can survive losing four of their top defenders. It’s a death sentence. But with the simple act of moving Byfuglien back to defence, Maurice was able to not only stop the bleeding, but keep his soldiers in the fight.

A versatile, physical freak with monstrous strength, laser vision and a hammer of a shot, Byfuglien has all the tools to lead the back end, and that’s exactly how Maurice has used him, to the tune of a 25-plus-minutes average over the last eight games. Paired with raw rookie Ben Chiarot, who has stepped right out of the AHL to the Jets’ top pairing, Byfuglien has made a seamless return to the point.

Where would the Jets be without Byfuglien right now? That’s difficult to quantify, but Maurice is using him more than any other player right now, which says a lot. If the Jets manage to weather this storm and remain a playoff team late into January, when they are scheduled to get some of their key defencemen back, Byfuglien will have played a major role.

Over the last week in discussions with NHL executives, the one word repeatedly used to describe Byfuglien was “remarkable.” There are two players in the league who can play forward and defence at a high level — Byfuglien and Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks.

They’re similar in they are big men who can move, and they both have elite hockey sense.

Byfuglien’s hockey IQ is what makes him so different. Surely, the physical attributes allow him to execute, but it’s his ability to read and think the game that puts his body in motion.

In today’s game, lots of players struggle moving from right D to left D, let alone from forward to defence. There was a time when defencemen were sometimes asked to move up to play centre because of the technical aspects required in both positions, but that never happens anymore.

Byfuglien being a rarity is one thing. Being an impact player in both areas is another.

Maurice has challenged Byfuglien to take care of the details in his own zone and, to date, that’s been the case. On nights when Byfuglien’s minutes hover around 24, he can be near-perfect. When he’s stretched beyond, his game can begin to wear a little thin but when a player is relied on heavily in five-on-five, power-play and penalty-kill situations, well, a letdown from time to time should be expected.

Byfuglien arrived in Winnipeg to mixed reviews. He got in a jam on Lake Minnetonka and his conditioning was an issue.

Maurice challenged all his players to improve their conditioning this last off-season, and all we’ve heard from the coach have been good things where Byfuglien is concerned.

Next season will be Byfuglien’s last on his current contract, and he’ll be paid $6 million, with unrestricted free agency his option should he elect to go to the market at the age of 31.

Will he want to stay? Will the Jets want to keep him?

It’s still a long way from now, although Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff will be in position to extend Byfuglien beginning this July.

One wouldn’t expect Byfuglien to be taking a pay cut, and the usual term for UFAs north of 30 is three years. So at minimum it will cost $18 million over three years to keep Byfuglien.

The Jets are building a case to attract players as an organization. Cheveldayoff treats his players well, they have a strong leader in Maurice and the organization appears on the cusp of better days.

The much-maligned core of Byfuglien, Blake Wheeler, Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little and Toby Enstrom are growing into their roles. Wheeler admitted during training camp this group used to talk a good leadership game but didn’t follow it up on the ice. That hasn’t been true this season.

Byfuglien likes to keep his private life private, and while that wasn’t easy to do in the early days of Jets 2.0, things have settled down and it’s easy for Winnipeg’s pro hockey players to have a regular existence. Byfuglien hails from just down the road in Roseau, Minn., and he loves the outdoors.

Players like Byfuglien don’t come along very often and there’s not a team in the NHL that wouldn’t want what he’s offering right now.

Cheveldayoff has been all about draft, develop and retain. Byfuglien falls into the last category. The good work Cheveldayoff has done at the youth end of his roster is beginning to pay dividends.

The next step will be to match young talent with experienced talent, which is what Byfuglien has become. The Jets can confidently say they have a future.

Playing as he is right now, one has to figure Byfuglien not only figures in the present, but in the tomorrow.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @garylawless