With Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, a number of teams have been suggested as a potential landing spot for the 33-year-old Olympic gold medalist.
While there are certainly some positives to bringing Hellebuyck to the Bay Area, specifically in regards to the short term future, there are just as many reasons to be cautious about it.
Pros:
In the past, Connor Hellebuyck has been an elite-caliber goaltender. In fact, just two seasons ago he became the eighth goaltender to win the Hart Trophy in NHL history. Across his career, he has a 345-208-55 record with a .916 save percentage and 2.58 goals-against average.
When discussing the best goaltender in the NHL, it’s often a two-horse race between Hellebuyck and Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning. As a result, it’s fair to say that Hellebuyck would be an immediate, and likely vast, improvement over the Sharks’ current starting goaltender, Yaroslav Askarov. The Sharks have been counting on Askarov taking a step forward since joining the organization, and he has done that in one regard as he’s now a full-time NHLer, but whether or not he lives up to his potential is still up in the air. Hellebuyck would undoubtedly give the Sharks their best chance to win right now, but we’ll come back to that topic shortly.
With players regularly getting contracts with average annual values upwards of eight figures these days, Hellebuyck’s current contract also carries a reasonable cap hit given his track record of success. His deal, which was signed at the start of the 2023-24 season, has an $8.5 million cap hit. While that figure is high for a goaltender, with some of the NHL’s best skaters now getting contracts around $20 million per season, goaltender salaries are likely about to spike as well.
Cons:
Now that we’ve established some positives of what Hellebuyck would bring to the Sharks, let’s take a look at why the idea may not be overly logical.
First off, as previously mentioned, Hellebuyck is 33 years old. If the Sharks were ready to compete for the Stanley Cup now, adding a goaltender of that caliber could certainly push them over the edge. With that being said, they’re not ready to compete at that level just yet.
While the Sharks addressed their blue line considerably over the summer, it’s still not a Cup contending caliber defensive core. It’s good enough to fight for a playoff spot, but it would be unfair to expect more than a first or second round exit at this stage.
Hellebuyck is currently entering the third year of a seven year contract, which would be both a blessing and a curse. While there’s the potential that the Sharks would have a high-end goaltender for five seasons, there’s also every chance that he falls off before he reaches the end of his deal, as Father Time does catch up to everyone eventually. Counting on a 38-year-old netminder while in their Cup window may not be the wisest decision.
The other important question to ask is whether or not we’ve already seen the start of Hellebuyck’s drop off. Yes, he was phenomenal for Team USA at the Olympics, but special, short-term events can cause a player to perform at a level they can no longer reach across a full NHL season.
Last season with Winnipeg, Hellebuyck had a career-worst .895 save percentage although he still had a somewhat respectable 2.86 goals-against average.
Personally, I think Hellebuyck’s performance last season was an outlier due to him wanting a fresh start, however it’s something that is worth considering since the Jets are going to want a king’s ransom in return.
More than likely, any trade for Hellebuyck would also include the aforementioned Askarov heading the other way. While Hellebuyck is certainly a short-term improvement, in the long-run that could be a move that haunts the Sharks if Askarov puts everything together and becomes the elite goaltender he was originally expected to be.
Trading away Askarov would then make the Sharks heavily reliant on the success of Joshua Ravensbergen to be their successor to Hellebuyck. While Ravensbergen, like Askarov, has the potential, that’s certainly a major gamble considering how difficult it is to properly judge a goaltender at that age.
The other point of contention is simply that, although he was a solid postseason goaltender early in his career, Hellebuyck has struggled in the playoffs as of late. Of course, a lot could change with a new organization, but it is notable.
There are certainly positives and negatives to bringing Connor Hellebuyck to the Bay Area, it simply depends on whether or not Mike Grier truly believes that the Sharks’ contention window is already open. Personally, that seems like a stretch to me, but he could certainly have considerably more confidence in this group.
