Cool kid in goal just getting started

Opinion

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This article was published 02/12/2015 (3594 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Something to consider as everyone in Winnipeg Jets Nation begins arguing about the design features of the future Connor Hellebuyck wing at the Hockey Hall of Fame:

It’s early. Man, is it ever early.

Hey, this isn’t to take anything away from what the 22-year-old has done in his first two NHL starts — he’s now 2-0 with a goals-against average of 1.00 and a save percentage of .958 after Wednesday’s 6-1 spanking over the Toronto Maple Leafs — but this isn’t a small sample size, it’s miniscule.

And the kid himself knows it.

“It’s all just numbers,” said Hellebuyck with a shrug as the media gathered around him after the game. “I mean, it’s going to be a season-long grind, and I’m going to give the best I can while I’m here.”

And so, as we’re all getting to learn a little about this Commerce Township, Mich., product — first spotted by a Jets scout three years ago while stopping pucks with the Odessa Jackalopes — this much is becoming clear: the dude just isn’t going to celebrate a win with a chest-thump and a primal scream. Heck, he’s so low-key you have to seriously resist the temptation to reach out and press your fingers against his jugular to see if he actually has a pulse.

Afterward — once the media scrum had moved on from him to others in the dressing room — we lingered to ask him why he isn’t showing more emotion about what he’s done. This is the NHL, after all, and not only is it a long shot for anyone just to make it to the Show, the odds are even longer at sticking.

So a 2-0 start, with a 1.00 GAA and save percentage of .958… that more than “just numbers.”

“Look, you enjoy it. You cherish it,” he said. “But if you let your highs get too high it can be like poison. My folks were at the first game (last week’s win in Minnesota). On the inside I’m really cherishing it. But I just don’t want to take anything for granted.

“I’ve been saying this a lot over the last two weeks: I’m just going to go out and try and get better every day, and whatever happens, happens.”

That’s the approach the Jets have also been taking publicly with their No. 1 goalie prospect, especially while everyone wants to rush to push him to the top of their depth chart. After Wednesday’s morning skate goaltending coach Wade Flaherty explained his job is to simply keep Hellebuyck in the moment, from working on the technical aspects of his game to providing a scouting report on his next opponent. All that other stuff — debating whether he can use this next stint with Ondrej Pavelec in sick bay to establish himself as a candidate for the No. 1 gig — is thinking too far ahead.

“I don’t know if you want to term it being ‘too careful,’ ” said Flaherty. “What we want to do is take it game by game and let the kid ease into it. All that other stuff is out of our control.

“You want to be patient. It’s a development thing. A prime example is a goaltender that played here with the Moose, Cory Schneider. He was here for three years, had some ups and downs at the American Hockey League level but is now one of the best goaltenders in the National Hockey League.

“Every organization has a different development plan for their goaltenders… Pittsburgh’s Marc-André Fleury went right into the NHL, played a little bit in the playoffs right out of juniors.

“You want them to get their feet under them.”

On Monday, when Hellebuyck-buzz topic came up with coach Paul Maurice quipped: “The line is… ‘cats and shiny objects,’ Just relax a little bit here. He’ll get whatever he earns and deserves.”

Well, what Hellebuyck did against the Leafs certainly earned him another start. He gave up a goal on just the second shot he faced when a defensive breakdown led to a Michael Grabner marker just 124 seconds into the contest. And a coach’s challenge in the third erased a Nick Spaling goal when Daniel Winnik was ruled to have interfered with him in the crease.

But one of the intriguing aspects to his game is just how easy he makes it look in the blue paint. And that’s part of the guy’s skill set, too.

Asked after the game what has impressed him most about his young goalie, Maurice paused. And then…

“This is getting really technical, coaches’ jargon — he looks big in the net,” he said with a sly grin. “He seems to be square in just about everything that comes to him.”

All of this was happening while another goaltender of the moment — Toronto’s Garret Sparks — had the red light flash six times behind his net. On Monday, he could have run for mayor after shutting out the Edmonton Oilers. Two nights later he’s being taunted by Jets’ fans with a ‘Spar-ky!’ chant as PA announcer Jay Richardson grew hoarse announcing Jets goals in the third period.

And earlier in the day, Jonathan Bernier — who was supposed to be the Leafs’ answer in the net — was assigned to the Toronto Marlies on a conditioning assignment. That’s an interesting way of trying to dance around Bernier’s 0-8-1 record and .888 save percentage.

But the point here is rather straightforward: all goaltenders are like green bananas when they make their NHL debut, Connor Hellebuyck included. Some ripen faster than others. And some, it would seem, just turn to brown.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait