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Most Valuable Mindset - Aug. 8 2025 - Vol. 79 Issue 1 - Carol Schram
IN 2020, THE FIRST time the NHL’s GMs tagged Connor Hellebuyck as the NHL’s best goalie, Hall of Famer Grant Fuhr broke the news on a video call. Hellebuyck was well-prepared, looking tidy in a collared shirt and with a list of thank-yous in hand.
When the longtime Winnipeg Jet was named the Vezina Trophy winner for the second time in 2024, he accepted the accolade in traditional fashion. Stepping to the stage of a Las Vegas theatre, outfitted in a sharp-looking black suit, he was presented with his replica trophy by Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz and comedian Jay Pharoah.
This spring, at 32, Hellebuyck made his biggest splash yet, winning his third Vezina and becoming just the eighth goalie in NHL history to claim the Hart.
As the surprise presentation unfolded on the waterfront lawn of his off-season home in Michigan, there was no opportunity to dress for the occasion. Fresh from a day on the lake with his agent, Ray Petkau, Hellebuyck hoisted his hardware and hugged his loved ones while decked out in cargo shorts, a baseball cap and a hooded sweatshirt that read: “If you can read this, you’re fishing too close.”
The NHL set out to generate less awkward stiffness and more heartfelt emotion with its award presentations this year. As Hellebuyck’s wife, Andrea, said, fishing is what he “loves the most – besides hockey.” Fans got to see an authentic slice of his life in the video package.
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Since goalies have their own dedicated award, and because they don’t play all 82 games, only monumental performances catch the attention of the Professional Hockey Writers Association members who vote for the Hart. Hellebuyck’s win made him the first netminder to earn MVP honors since Carey Price in 2014-15.
In his 10th season with the Jets, he backstopped the NHL’s smallest-market franchise to its first Presidents’ Trophy. He also earned the William M. Jennings Trophy, an award given to the goalie or goalies on the NHL team that gives up the fewest goals – the second time in a row he’s won the honor.
Hellebuyck’s predilection for heavy workloads has twice granted him sole possession of the Jennings, which requires a goalie to make at least 25 appearances. In 2024-25, his 63 regular-season appearances marked the fifth time that he has shared or outright led that category. He also led qualified stoppers in wins (47), goals-against average (2.00) and shutouts (eight) this year.
I remember it for those reasons, it being so different anda really cool experience- CONNOR HELLEBUYCK
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To keep his sharpness, Hellebuyck aims for a full night off when he’s backing up. “The way that I usually handle it is telling the other guy, ‘You’re not coming out, no matter what,’” he said. “Make him feel good that no matter what’s going to happen, he’s in.”
For the most part, that plan has also worked well for his partners, too. Back in Winnipeg for a third tour of duty last season, Eric Comrie put up a 2.39 GAA and .914 save percentage in 20 appearances, the most of his career to date.
Hellebuyck has lots to play for this season after coming up short at the 4 Nations and in the NHL playoffs.
But even the best-laid plans occasionally go awry. In March, Hellebuyck made his first relief appearance in more than five years – logging 10:10 of ice time after Comrie was pulled by a concussion spotter just over three minutes into a road game against the Seattle Kraken. “You’ve got to be realistic with yourself,” Hellebuyck said. “It doesn’t happen every day. Enjoy the experience. All you can do is control what you can control. That’s the effort you put forward and trying your best.”
Hellebuyck’s rise has been remarkable for a goalie who was unranked by NHL Central Scouting. When he was drafted by the Jets in the fifth round (130th overall) in 2012, he was playing for the North American League’s Odessa Jackalopes, a Tier II junior squad, after he’d successfully made the team following an invitation to tryout camp.
But he was recruited to play Div. I hockey at UMass-Lowell, and from there, his star rose quickly. As a sophomore, he was named the NCAA’s goalie of the year following back-to-back Hockey East championships – which remain among his fondest memories in the sport. “We had their student section and our student section going back and forth, having chants,” he said. “That was pretty electric.”
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In 2014-15, Hellebuyck turned pro, playing 58 games and putting up a .921 SP after quickly assuming the starter’s role for the AHL’s St. John’s IceCaps. After signing on as Team USA’s third goalie at the 2014 World Championship, he returned a year later and claimed bronze in Prague – being named to the tournament all-star team after finishing with a 39-save shutout in another amped-up building as he outduelled 43-year-old Czech legend and tournament MVP Jaromir Jagr in the final international event of Jagr’s career. “They had their own unique chants, songs and game-day production,” Hellebuyck said. “I remember it for those reasons – it being so different and a really cool experience.”
The reason I play the game is to win- CONNOR HELLEBUYCK
With the mental toughness he’s honed over his career, Hellebuyck channels his off-ice energies into championing mental health. In 2023, he published two children’s books on the subject as part of Project 11, the mental-health-awareness initiative for youth that was founded to continue the efforts of former Manitoba Moose Rick Rypien, who died by suicide in 2011.
And while the Hart is an important acknowledgment of personal success, winning a championship is the real goal. After the Americans’ second-place finish at February’s 4 Nations Face-Off and coming up short in the Jets’ second-round playoff series, another shot at international glory – this time at the Olympics – and a Cup run with Winnipeg await. “The best way I can go about it is being realistic with myself,” he said. “You’ve got to enjoy getting better, and you’ve got to enjoy really learning the game, because when goals happen, you use it as a learning experience as opposed to, ‘I failed at that.’
“The reason I play the game is to win. I never go out not expecting to give my all.”
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