Connor Hellebuyck has turned up the pressure on the Winnipeg Jets and that may impact the Montreal Canadiens' ability to trade Samuel Montembeault.
A day after the Edmonton Oilers announced that Frederik Andersen would be missing training camp, Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck came out publicly to reiterate his trade request. While it would be incredibly surprising if the Montreal Canadiens were interested in the Jets’ netminder, whatever happens to him may have an impact on the Habs. In early July, we wrote that if there was a resolution of the Hellebuyck front, teams who missed out on the Vezina Trophy winner may have to look for a backup plan, which is where the Habs and Samuel Montembeault could come in.
After Hellebuyck made a public statement on Wednesday, the Jets replied mere hours later, saying that they respect what the netminder has accomplished in Winnipeg and that they are continuing to work through the situation in a thoughtful manner, but that there is nothing to report at the moment.
At the draft, they reportedly came close to trading the goalie to the Buffalo Sabres in a deal that would have included another netminder, but the trade fell through after the Jets refused to part with the eighth overall pick despite getting the fourth overall pick in the deal.
If this ends up being a goalie swap, Winnipeg can’t be a landing spot for Montembeault, but if GM Kevin Cheveldayoff ends up having to deal with a team that doesn’t have a goalie to offer, he could very well be looking for a backup for Stuart Skinner. As things stand, Winnipeg has no remaining RFAs and has $4.4 million in cap space. If Hellebuyck comes off the books, that’s another $8.5 million that’s freed up, but chances are the trade return will eat at that over $12 million in potential cap room.
While Skinner hasn’t had a great run of late, in the 2022-23 to 2024-25 seasons, he played over 50 games and posted numbers worthy of a number one netminder. The fact that the Jets signed him as a free agent makes it feel like they wanted to have a number one goaltender at the ready if they couldn’t get one in a potential Hellebuyck deal. Still, his numbers haven’t been great in the last two seasons and acquiring Montembeault as a safety net could be a great move if the Becancour native’s off year turned out to be a one-off.
With Hellebuyck putting pressure on the Jets’ front office as training camp approaches, it will be interesting to see if things come unstuck, and there’s no doubt it’s a situation that GM Kent Hughes will be monitoring. If the American netminder were to land in Buffalo, though, it would have a big impact on the Atlantic Division picture. The Sabres would have a star goaltender to help them repeat as not only a playoff team, but perhaps as a division winner.
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