- Dustin Byfuglien played dumb about the Winnipeg Jets alumni game in October, even though he is already on the roster
- Big Buff needed four words to answer whether he is in game shape
- Read below for the video and the full Jets alumni roster for Heritage Classic weekend
Dustin Byfuglien is still Dustin Byfuglien.
The 41-year-old spent last weekend fishing the Kenora Bass International, and at the Day 2 weigh-in someone asked the former Jets defenseman whether he was in shape for Winnipeg’s alumni game in October. He didn’t need a second to answer.
“Never was in shape.”
Watch Big Buff work the interviewer, in video shared by Dave Minuk of Illegal Curve:
Getting there was the best part. Asked flat out if he was playing in the game, Byfuglien replied “What one?” Reminded that it was Winnipeg’s, he went with “I don’t know, I didn’t know there was one.”
He knows. Byfuglien has been on the preliminary alumni roster since January, when the Jets and Canadiens unveiled their lineups for Heritage Classic weekend.
Once the interviewer pushed, Big Buff cracked a little. “Well we’ll have to look into that … if I’m not shooting ducks,” he said, before adding that his family is excited to get back to Winnipeg.
Both alumni sides play Oct. 24 at Canada Life Centre, one night before the Jets and Canadiens meet outdoors at Princess Auto Stadium on the 2026-27 schedule.
Winnipeg’s roster reads like a Jets 2.0 reunion: Blake Wheeler, Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little, Paul Stastny, Mathieu Perreault and Chris Thorburn, with Nik Antropov, Sam Gagner, Eric Fehr, Tanner Glass, Cody Eakin and Anthony Peluso added in June.
That group has something to defend, sort of. Jets alumni beat the Oilers alumni 6-5 at the 2016 Heritage Classic in Winnipeg.
As for the actual fishing, Byfuglien and partner Mike Reid finished 26th out of 133 teams with a three-day largemouth total of 48.34 pounds, 5.86 behind first place. That is the second straight year he has cracked the top 30 there.
His last NHL game came in 2018-19. Byfuglien walked away with 177 goals and 525 points in 869 games between Chicago, Atlanta and Winnipeg, and he won a Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 2010 after scoring 11 goals in 22 playoff games.
Take a look at the version of him Winnipeg is hoping turns up in October:
Byfuglien just has to make sure the ducks can wait.
