Philadelphia Flyers trade speculation: Would the Winnipeg Jets trade Dustin Byfuglien?
According to NHL rumor guru Eklund, the Philadelphia Flyers are heavily pursuing Dustin Byfuglien of the Winnipeg Jets. Byfuglien has battled some weight and focus issues, but seems to have put all that in the past this year. He’s been outstanding for the Jets from the blue line, and is among the NHL’s top offensive-defensemen.
Which is why it’s odd that the Flyers would be willing to trade some “untouchable” assets to land the defenseman-turned forward-turned defenseman.
After all, isn’t that what Mark Streit and Kimmo Timonen are in town to do? Move the puck and basically act as a fourth forward on the play? While neither of those guys are on the right side of 30, Streit is locked up for the next four years while Timonen’s contract is over with at the end of 2013-14.
Even if the Flyers are bringing in Byfuglien to be a “big and mean” presence on the blue line, he isn’t the kind of Shea Weber-like player the team has been pining for since Chris Pronger went down a few years ago. He is primarily an offensive-defenseman, and for a team that seems to have issues on their own zone from time to time, he might not be the best target at the moment.
http://fansided.com/2013/10/27/flyers-trade-speculation-byfuglien-winnipeg-jets/