Connor’s no goner, he’ll earn a return

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This article was published 13/02/2016 (3508 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON — On the day veteran Ondrej Pavelec returned to the Jets lineup for the first time since Nov. 21, several of his teammates were asked their impression of rookie Connor Hellebuyck, who was re-assigned later Friday.

“His time will come,” said Jets captain Andrew Ladd. “I think everyone in this room understands that he’s going to be a great goalie for a long time.

“Unfortunately at that position sometimes you have to have a little patience and that’s tough. As a young guy, you have a tendency to think or wonder what’s going on, why your time isn’t now. It’s better to be patient than force it.”

Hellebuyck was 13-11-1 with a goals-against average of 2.34 and a save percentage of .918 when he was sent back to the Moose Friday.

In Hellebuyck’s last eight appearances, he was 2-5-0 with a GAA of 3.27 and a save percentage of .880, including two hooks.

“I think he did a great job for us,” centre Bryan Little said. “It’s a tough position. Him and Hutchy (Michael Hutchinson) have split some time and played well when we needed them to. Especially Hutchy last year, what he did.

“But I guess it’s good when you have three goalies you can rely on. I’m sure Hellebuyck will be back someday, who knows when, but he’s going to be a good player in this league and he’s young still. He’s already really good.”

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Saturday marked the Jets’ final visit to Rexall Place.

The Oilers will move downtown into the $480-million Rogers Place later this year.

“If anything, I’ll kind of miss the history,” Little said. “For me, it’s more that I’m just glad I got the chance to play here. The same with some of those other old arenas, Long Island, The Igloo, places like that.”

Ladd also has memories here.

“I’m having flashbacks of that Edmonton-to-Carolina trip,” he said, referring to the 2006 Stanley Cup final. “I think any time you have a building that has this much history and had this many great teams, I think there’s always a little part of everybody that’s sad to see it go, but as players, you also know there’s a nice, new rink coming and it’ll be nice to go in there.

“I have a lot of great memories in this building, the Stanley Cup final here, so those memories will always be with me.”

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There’s lots of Connor McDavid fever here but Oilers coach Todd McLellan wasn’t afraid to chime in on Jets’ defenceman Dustin Byfuglien, who got a contract extension this week.

“He’s a special player,” McLellan said. “There aren’t many Brent Burns or Dustin Byfugliens in the NHL. It’s why everybody wants those type of players.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca