Trade rumors linked Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck to the Buffalo Sabres. Unless the trade makes the Winnipeg Jets a Stanley Cup front-runner next season and beyond, forget it.
As the Winnipeg Jets focus on bouncing back from a subpar season, Connor Hellebuyck's future with the team really came into question during draft weekend.
Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman said there were people who thought the Jets and Buffalo Sabres were close to a Hellebuyck deal, with the goaltender being willing to waive his no-move clause to make it happen. Winnipeg ultimately didn't go through with it.
The Jets probably don't want to trade Hellebuyck, even in the wake of a substandard season from him. But if Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff does decide it's time to trade Hellebuyck, they're going to want pieces that can help the Jets win now, not retool or rebuild. After all, there would need to be an extremely good reason to move a superstar goalie with five years left on his contract who has not reportedly requested a trade.
Cheveldayoff has never relied on a full roster rebuild to get his team into the post-season. He's still been able to get crucial core players over the past 15 years, such as Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Josh Morrissey and Hellebuyck.
With Scheifele, Connor, Hellebuyck, Gabe Vilardi, Neal Pionk, and captain Adam Lowry signed to long-term contracts, the Jets are obviously in win-now mode, and that cannot change even if Cheveldayoff does decide to trade their No. 1 goalie.
As it stands, there's no sense that Hellebuyck has officially requested a trade despite voicing his frustration with the season in April. That should be the end of the discussion, but clearly, if the Jets and Sabres were close on a deal, something must be brewing.
Trading the 2024-25 Hart Trophy winner and three-time Vezina recipient during the Jets' competitive window would be extremely bold, especially for a squad that scored the seventh-fewest goals this past season.
Doing so in a strong Central Division, which had the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild rank top-four in the NHL in fewest goals against, would theoretically make it even tougher for the Jets to gain an edge over their rivals. No other goalie in the Central is a Hart Trophy winner, after all.
Hellebuyck is still a workhorse as well, having played 57 games this past season despite being briefly injured.
It's not like the Jets have another goalie ready to be an elite starter, either.
Eric Comrie is a pending UFA who wouldn't fit the bill, and prospects Thomas Milic and Domenic DiVincentiis aren't nearly there yet.
And hypothetically, if the Jets acquired Sabres starter Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, they can't have him record a save percentage below .900 every two years, as he has been doing. One subpar season from Hellebuyck played a significant role in the Jets missing the playoffs one year after winning the Presidents' Trophy, after all.
In any case, the Jets would take a big step back in net with any Hellebuyck trade, which would significantly hurt their chances of being competitive with a very strong core. They would have to hope their core players don't see a move as a white flag on their competitive window, either, because maybe then they could actually get some public trade requests.
Sure, at 33 years old, Hellebuyck does not have all the time in the world to be a Stanley Cup-winning goaltender. That's why he discussed the importance of winning the Cup in his end-of-season media availability. But one bad season should not undo years of progress the Jets made to build a strong core, and Hellebuyck could be part of the team's bounce-back season in 2026-27 that gets him far in the playoffs.
The media leaks about a potential Hellebuyck trade seem to serve teams other than Winnipeg, and that's going to have to change to consummate a Hellebuyck deal. Unless a team overpays a lot to acquire the goalie from Winnipeg, the Jets must stay focused on winning the Stanley Cup as soon as possible and keep him.
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