Cheveldayoff open to Hellebuyck trade

Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff has confirmed the organization is open to trading superstar goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and currently listening to offers.

There’s just one problem.

“Obviously what I’ve been hearing hasn’t made me act,” Cheveldayoff said Friday morning in a Zoom call with media. “I guess the best answer is: I’m still listening.”

How, exactly, did we get here? Cheveldayoff, who normally holds his cards tight to the vest, was slightly more revealing than usual — perhaps in an attempt to juice the offers rival GMs might ultimately present to him.

“Everyone saw Helly’s press conference at the end of the year. He was passionate,” said Cheveldayoff. “Certainly in our exit meetings we had some frank conversations as well, but again, what happens in those meetings certainly stays private.”

Fair enough. But the whole matter has become a rather public affair now, especially with the NHL draft on deck. Could the Jets swing a big move prior to Friday evening, when the first round gets underway? Carolina, Florida and Buffalo are among the teams rumoured to be in the mix.

“In this game here, everything changes with phone calls and conversations and stuff like that,” said Cheveldayoff.

“At the end of the day you keep on trying to do the best things that we can for the Winnipeg Jets moving forward here, thinking about the entire organization and team in every decision that you make.”

Cheveldayoff wouldn’t directly answer whether Hellebuyck — who has a full no-move clause along with five more years on his current contract — has asked for a trade. But the fact the club is taking calls would suggest he has. Otherwise, why ship out a Hart Trophy and three-time Vezina Trophy winner who is also fresh off leading the United States to Olympic gold?

“If you can fill some holes in other areas and do things a little bit differently, then you can try to find a way,” Cheveldayoff said.

“If those holes and those needs aren’t met, then that’s part of the game. Everybody has got different ideas on what their teams need and what their teams want. If a team doesn’t need a certain thing, they’re not going to come shopping for it. If a team needs something, then maybe they will. It’s going to depend on how bad a team wants something. We have needs as well.”

A second-line centre would be at the very top of the list. Cheveldayoff said free agency, which gets underway next Wednesday, is not necessarily going to fill that void.

“It is not a very robust UFA class,” he said.

“I think that’s why you’re seeing lots of maybe different conversations out there. Do all of them lead to something that happens now? Not necessarily. Does it lead to something that happens in the future? Maybe. But I think you have to look internally as well to try to grow your organization.”

The Jets currently posses the eighth-overall pick in tonight’s draft but a potential Hellebuyck deal could change that.

“There’s lots of passion for players in this area and we feel like there’s an opportunity to get someone that can be really impactful for the future of the franchise,” said Cheveldayoff.

Might the Jets shy away from taking any American players, given that Hellebuyck seems poised to become just the latest in a growing list of ones who wanted out of their Canadian markets?

“You’re always looking to take the best player, and then it’s kind of what happens, you know, after that,” said Cheveldayoff.

“You try to build a family, you try to build an organization that the players care for and feel a part of and want to be a part of. That’s how we grew this organization, that’s how we got it to the point where we won the Presidents’ Trophy and we got it to the point in ‘17-18 where we did some of the things that we did. And that’s how we’re gonna do it again moving forward here.

“Whatever the nationality of the player is, it’s incumbent upon the organization to keep on developing them in a fashion that they want to be with your organization for a long period of time.”

Cheveldayoff will speak again late this evening once the first round concludes.

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