Note: This is day 37 since the NHL and AHL hit the pause button on their respective 2019-20 seasons.
Breaking News: The NHL announced that the Jets and Dustin Byfuglien’s camp have agreed to a mutual termination of contract. You can hear the full conference call with GM Kevin Cheveldayoff here.
Byfuglien news:
The Athletic Winnipeg: What made Dustin Byfuglien Winnipeg’s one-of-a-kind talent. (Paywall – 90 day free option). Ken wrote about the big man, who was from my reading of the fanbase, the most popular player to have worn a Jets 2.0 jersey.
Winnipeg Sun: The Dustin Byfuglien saga came down to one, simple truth: the man’s heart was no longer in it. When you hear the stories about number 33 from when he was drafted to the present it really should come as no surprise that he goes out on his own terms.
Sportsnet: Why Byfuglien will always have a special place in Winnipeg Jets history. First shift of the first exhibition game was enough to get the man’s name written in as fan favourite for life.
Jets news:
Winnipeg Free Press: Woodcroft takes off to Vermont. (Paywall). Mike had a chance to catch up with the now head coach of Vermont.
The Athletic Winnipeg: Good deeds of ex-Jets coach Todd Woodcroft. (Paywall – 90 days free option). Some great stories about the now former Jets assistant coach. The folks in Vermont are certainly getting a quality human in addition to getting a quality coach.
CBC: Connor Hellebuyck on Jets’ season: ‘We had something special going’. This team had certainly turned things around at the end of the year. Would have been interesting to see if they could have sustained that momentum.
NHL.com: Hellebuyck getting creative with training during season pause for Jets. The ‘slapshot regatta’ line from the movie She’s Out of My League was a pretty funny reference by the netminder.
Winnipeg Sun: Hellebuyck ‘honoured’ by Vezina chatter; wants hockey’s largest piece of hardware. That is a fairly common theme with most players. Hard to get them to discuss individual awards.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence
Winnipeg Free Press: Hellebuyck fishing for ideas to keep his goalie game in shape. (Paywall). I was curious if the top netminder was running out of ideas for his post-game celebrations. Turns out he enlisted the help of his teammates.
Jets video:
Sportsnet: Connor Hellebuyck on a Jets Stanley Cup run, goalie rituals, who deserves the Vezina & more. Sean Reynolds catches up with Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck discussing the Jets chances at a Stanley Cup run, goalie rituals, the Vezina Trophy and more.
Illegal Curve: Conference call with Connor Hellebuyck. After chatting with Sean he joined the rest of us to chat about a wide variety of topics including his post-game three star celebrations, what he’d do if he scored an empty net goal, his considering holding a slapshot regatta with his brother and quite a bit more.
Jets audio:
The Athletic Winnipeg: The Boarding Pass. Murat and Ken take a trip down memory lane with Claude, as the former bench boss, shares his memories of his time in Winnipeg, helping shape the Jets from their infancy to where they are today. Claude provides insight on players he has coached, including Alex Burmistrov, Blake Wheeler, Dustin Byfuglien and Mark Scheifele.
