Player Discussion: Jets have suspended Dustin Byfuglien for failing to report to camp...

[cheswick]

yea his wife tweeted some displeasure about that. said they are not moving

Well technically she said they did not sell the house, not that they are not moving.

 

[sipowicz]

It is going to get ugly. Jets are at no fault at all in this situation, IMO.

I posted the same sentiment yesterday but got rebuked! I don't know how it ends any way but badly, anyone seriously think that having a pro athlete get a surgical procedure out of country without the team knowing suggests an amicable relationship?

 

[KingBogo]

Lets say player wants surgery, team doesn't think he needs it. If the Jets didn't want Buff to have surgery because they didn't want him out for a long time, how is that worse than having him stay away from the team or even retiring? And even if there is a disagreement between Buff and the Jets over the ankle injury, there are procedures in place in the CBA to deal with these issues.

I just don't see how Buff thinking about retiring and walking away from the team and not getting paid could just be a result of a disagreement over how to treat an injury.

Chevy says this is complicated, but if it was all just about an ankle injury it's not complicated. It's only complicated because there is a hell of a lot more going on here than just Buff's ankle IMO.

I think the team also believed Buff needed ankle surgery and wanted done on their time table at the end of last season and then have Buff spend the summer rehabbing and being ready for camp. It seems to me Buff was unsure of his future and was contemplating retirement and it certainly wasn't in his plans to spend the summer in the gym over a fishing boat. Training camp would have been the make or break date where he would have gone through team physicals and then likely surgery and a team mandated rehabilitation regiment. If Buff wasn't ready to do this the next logical step would be suspension.

All this speculation about nefarious intent by TNSE fails to account for the fact that Buff being in limbo is the worst possible thing that could happen to their ability to manage their cap and maximize the on ice product. If someone wants to clarify what their motives could possibly be I'd be interested to hear them.

 

[cbcwpg]

I posted the same sentiment yesterday but got rebuked! I don't know how it ends any way but badly, anyone seriously think that having a pro athlete get a surgical procedure out of country without the team knowing suggests an amicable relationship?

Chevy did say that the team knew Buff was thinking about having surgery, but I still see your point. If this is basically " I'm having surgery and you can't stop me " then yes, it is definitely not a good relationship.

I could see this whole thing ending like the way the Jets and Enstrom ended things. Buff sailing off into the sunset never to be heard from again. Not good when the teams popular players keep ending up like it was a nasty divorce.

 

[LucianoBorsato]

Chevy did say that the team knew Buff was thinking about having surgery, but I still see your point. If this is basically " I'm having surgery and you can't stop me " then yes, it is definitely not a good relationship.

I could see this whole thing ending like the way they Jets and Enstrom ended things. Buff sailing off into the sunset never to be heard from again. Not good when the teams popular players keep ending up like it was a nasty divorce.

Enstrom was a popular player?

 

[Trinity]

Enstrom was a popular player?

Not in his final year. But earlier on in his career with the Jets he most definitely was.

 

[cbcwpg]

Enstrom was a popular player?

Shouldn't even have to debate this , but yes. A lot of fans liked Enstrom. I would even say most. People forget that most fans don't go on a forum talking about every possible metric to do with the players performance. It's like Laine. People on here nit-pick his game and his faults, but I guarantee you 99.9% of the fans of this team don't care about any of that, and they just like the player being on the Jets. Same with Buff. Lots of warts in his game, but the people love him.

It will be funny 20 years from now when the Jets hold a player reunion and nobody comes because they are all pissed off at the ownership.

 

[PaperRockChamp]

I look at this from every side. I can't figure out WHY this circus is going on and why Byfug got surgery on his own. The only possible reason I can think of is maybe the Jets talked him out of surgery last season and he didn't recover naturally?

If he still wants to play, why contemplate retirement, get suspended and then opt for surgery in late October? Makes zero sense for the player.
He is an irreplaceable player/entertainer but we don't need Byfug back in March.

If True North talked him out of official retirement, this mess is on them.
Why ask him to take his time deciding, and then suspend him to free up cap space that the team cannot even use, in the case he does come back?
In that way it seems like it was just a money-saving move by the Jets more than "freeing up cap space".

None of these decisions make sense on either side (using only these media reports).

 

[LucianoBorsato]

Not in his final year. But earlier on in his career with the Jets he most definitely was.

I remember people complaining about him well before his final year, in here and at games. 2015 playoffs come to mind. I think I can count on both hands the number of Enstrom jerseys I saw at games back in the day.

I suppose Trouba was more popular, but he wasn't driven out. Pretty sure they wanted him to stay but their hand was forced.

Evander Kane was a very popular Jet also, I guess?

UFA's that leave, that is just hockey business.

 

[LucianoBorsato]

Shouldn't even have to debate this , but yes. A lot of fans liked Enstrom. I would even say most. People forget that most fans don't go on a forum talking about every possible metric to do with the players performance. It's like Laine. People on here nit-pick his game and his faults, but I guarantee you 99.9% of the fans of this team don't care about any of that, and they just like the player being on the Jets. Same with Buff. Lots of warts in his game, but the people love him.

It will be funny 20 years from now when the Jets hold a player reunion and nobody comes because they are all pissed off at the ownership.

So 3 or 4 won't show up, I guess.

 

[Whileee]

Yep, though I'd McIntyre differs from Wiecek in that while he regards himself as a "crusading reporter" (with a crime reporting background) he doesn't seem to aggregate every perceived slight into an overarching narrative of TNSE as some evil empire bent on the oppression of Wiecek himself. That guy was absolutely toxic.

I agree that this story isn't our story to have and to tell. I do think that the Jets could do with outsourcing their media and rep management to a more sophisticated outfit -- it's now an org with international reach, and homespun strategies and narratives just won't fly there, IMO. I think we've seen that repeatedly this year, from the Trouba and Laine (and even Copp) sagas to the ongoing Buff mystery. Chevy-style waffling and obfuscation is not going to calm this down, however honourable and correct in light of the circumstances it is.

Actually, I think most fans aren't as buzzed about the situation and don't expect to get all of the details of Buff's situation. They might be riled up if reporters like McIntyre give the impression that there is something nefarious going on though, which I think is an irresponsible misrepresentation. Chevy isn't waffling. He's said since training camp that it is a complicated situation with personal dimensions and that he won't have anything more to say until there is a clear resolution. "Obfuscation" is a highly pejorative characterization when it's fairly clear that Buff (and his family and agent) don't want details shared publicly at this point in time. Note that none of the reporters are challenging Buff and his agent for "waffling" or "obfuscation" about the situation. Chevy is respecting their desire to keep the situation confidential until there is a clear determination of what Buff would like to do.

 

[Deedog99]

Team should have got rid of all the Atlanta Thrasher deadweight within the first couple years

 

[Gm0ney]

Evander drama. Trouba drama. Now Buff drama? Seems to be a lot of controversy for one single management regime. Not liking the reputation Winnipeg is getting around the league

You are talking 3 very different circumstances over an 8 year period. This has to be way below average for a sports team in this day and age.

"Drama" is kind of a vague term but Kane, Trouba and Buff probably fit any definition of it.

There have been quite a few players who've wanted out over the years, if we want to interpret "drama" liberally. Pavs threatened to go to the KHL in 2012, but that was probably just a bluff. Chris Mason wouldn't re-sign here. Hainsey never wanted to come here in the first place. The Jets moved Oduya out quickly - but that might have just been because they thought he sucked, rather than him wanting out. Burmi left for the KHL rather than sign here. Ponikarovsky lasted, what, 12 games? Of course Kane asked to be traded every offseason for 3 years. Bogo apparently asked to be traded too. That was all in the first 3 or 4 seasons?

Since then, Frolik wouldn't re-sign. Then Ladd wouldn't. Trouba held out. It seems like every Jet with arbitration rights elects to take the team to arbitration. Both Trouba and Copp actually went through the full process and received arbitration deals. We've heard of players not happy with their ice-time/deployment - Laine being the biggest of those. But Petan asked for a trade. Roslovic didn't like his usage last year...

I don't follow any other teams as closely as the Jets but we seem to have at least our fair share of this stuff...

 

[tbcwpg]

I think this thread is at a point where it should be locked until new information is released. We know he had surgery, we know he won't be able to play for a few months anyway, and we don't know anything about how this situation is working behind the scenes. Until we get some new information that's credible (ie. not someone claiming to know something without providing its source), the discussion has run its course and is just a lot of rumours and off-topic discussion. We will re-open (or create a new thread) when something new comes out.