Two players on the Winnipeg Jets might be injured enough to miss hockey games, but that didn’t limit their ability to reel in a massive, prehistoric-looking fish.
Dustin Byfuglien and Matt Hendricks had a day off in between the Jets’ games in Edmonton and Vancouver, so Wednesday they booked a fishing expedition with Sturgeon Slayers, a company based on the Fraser River in British Columbia. The trip was definitely a success for the two Minnesota natives — they landed a monster.
The sturgeon measured nearly 10-feet long and weighed an estimated 600 pounds. The guides at Sturgeon Slayers like to call these particular types of sturgeon “dinosaurs” or “dinos” because they look like they’re from a bygone era.
This was also not the first big sturgeon Byfuglien has bested.
After Byfuglien and Hendricks posed with their prize catch (and released it, per strict Sturgeon Slayers guidelines), neither played Thursday night for the Jets against the Canucks. Hendricks is on injured reserve with a foot injury. Byfuglien has now missed the past two games with a “soft tissue” lower-body injury.
Jets coach Paul Maurice was grilled about Byfuglien’s off-day activities before the game Thursday, and did not seem pleased about the line of questioning.
“He wasn’t bull riding,” Maurice said to reporters. “He was fishing.”
“It was a big fish,” one media member responded.
“Well, he didn’t have to wrestle it,” Maurice shot back. “We gave him a line and a hook.”
Byfuglien could return for the Jets’ next game on Saturday, according to the Winnipeg Sun.