Hellebuyck ready for high-stakes hockey By: Ken Wiebe Posted: 6:43 PM CDT Thursday, Apr. 17, 2025

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This article was published 17/04/2025 (473 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Connor Hellebuyck, the stage is set and it’s your time to shine.

The Winnipeg Jets’ All-World goalie has completed his case for Hart Trophy consideration and the numbers are definitely compelling.

What Hellebuyck did during his 10th NHL season — and ninth as a workhorse starter — is nothing short of extraordinary.

Although he won’t complete the clean sweep of leading the league in goals-against average (2.00), shutouts (eight), wins (47) and save percentage, that’s more of of a technicality, since Anthony Stolarz of the Toronto Maple Leafs edging him by .01 percentage points is more related to him making 19 fewer starts than Hellebuyck this season.

That doesn’t diminish Hellebuyck’s case when there doesn’t appear to be a runaway winner from the impressive group of skaters under consideration.

It looks like a five-horse race — since Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks and Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets are essentially eliminated by virtue of their teams being eliminated from playoff contention.

Those joining Hellebuyck in the discussion are Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers, Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche, Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Jack Eichel of the Vegas Golden Knights.

There is an argument to be made for each of those players as well, as their value to their respective teams is obvious.

It’s important to note that Hart Trophy voting is very much a beauty-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder type of situation because the Most Valuable Player to his team means different things to different people.

Hellebuyck is the best player on the Presidents’ Trophy-winning team and that has to count for something.

If you prefer to look at underlying numbers, Hellebuyck led the NHL in goals saved above expected in all situations with 39.6, according to MoneyPuck (with Vasilevskiy second at 29.2).

There’s little doubt that the Jets’ improved commitment to playing a far more structured defensive game than Hellebuyck saw in front of him when he first broke into the league helps to boost those numbers, but ultimately, the goalie still needs to do his part.

The evidence shows that Hellebuyck has gone above and beyond.

“Not saying that I am putting everything on my shoulders, but my goal throughout my entire career is to get a shutout every single night.”–Connor Hellebuyck

Jets head coach Scott Arniel was around Henrik Lundqvist during his prime with the New York Rangers and has a pretty good idea of what elite-level goaltending looks like, so he was asked on Thursday if he viewed Hellebuyck’s season as Hart Trophy worthy.

“Without a doubt. Without a doubt,” said Arniel.

“He certainly should be in that conversation for the numbers that he’s thrown up this year, the different things that he’s done to put himself in the, not only the Winnipeg Jets’ record book but some league ones, too. Back-to-back Jennings, we’ll see (about) back-to-back Vezina (Trophies). But at the end of the day, (considering) the meaning of MVP or that trophy, he checks an awful lot of those boxes for us.”

No matter where you stand on this debate, it’s something that will take a backseat for the next two months as ballots are counted, with the unveiling set for sometime in June.

Hellebuyck has other things to occupy his time with, beginning with what figures to be an epic matchup with Jordan Binnington and the St. Louis Blues that opens on Saturday at 5 p.m.

During his meeting with reporters last spring after exit interviews were completed, Hellebuyck explained that he was putting too much pressure on himself to perform.

Does he still feel that way nearly 12 months later?

“I scrapped that real fast,” said Hellebuyck.

“Not saying that I am putting everything on my shoulders, but my goal throughout my entire career is to get a shutout every single night. That is what makes me me and that is what I feed off of. I am going to continue to do that because I know that gives this team the best chance to win.

“If that helps me be the best version of myself in a team sport like this, you need the best version of everyone and I know that it’s going to take for me to put my best foot forward so I am going to continue to do that because I know that is going to continue to help this team.”

Even if Hellebuyck didn’t particularly care for a pair of questions offered as an attempt to dive into past forays into postseasons where the Jets were unable to meet their expectations, he knows what is at stake for this group.

As gaudy as his numbers were during this past regular season, Hellebuyck recognizes that things haven’t gone smoothly for him during the playoffs in April of 2023 or 2024.

Nobody who watched those series with the Colorado Avalanche or Vegas Golden Knights is pointing the finger at Hellebuyck for the consecutive early exits.

Multiple areas of the Jets’ collective game simply weren’t close to good enough, but Hellebuyck allowed 42 goals during those 10 outings and that’s too many, regardless of the circumstances.

He doesn’t need to be superhuman during this postseason run, but Hellebuyck needs to be better than average and if he can continue to be elite — like he’s been all season — that will greatly enhance the Jets’ chances of a lengthy run.

“We’ve done some great things this year,” said Hellebuyck.

“We don’t need to go look at all the bad things that other people’s opinions have on us. I would say let’s ask questions about how our details are, how’s this team feeling, what’s right and what’s going well in this room? A lot of those questions are answered through our game every single day.

“Our details are phenomenal. We played every single game as hard as we can. Our compete level is very very high every single night. I really believe in this group and look forward to the next couple months.”

Hellebuyck made it clear he’s feeling fresh — and reducing the volume of high-danger chances he faces — is an important part of that equation.

So was maximizing his rest down the stretch, which allowed him to appear in 66 games so far (including the 4 Nations Face-Off), without running out of gas.

“We’ve got a lot to look (forward) for here. It’s just making sure my game is right and our details are right.”–Connor Hellebuyck

“I could have played a little bit more this year. It’s always a talking point,” said Hellebuyck.

“I manage myself so well. I’ve been doing this for a while. I kind of have everything dialed in. I’ve got the right people around me to make myself feel good every day. I’ve got a good rhythm. I feel rested, I feel ready for what’s next.”

That time with Team USA provided Hellebuyck with an opportunity to deliver quality netminding in a pressure-packed environment, as he helped his team get to overtime against Canada in the championship final of the first best-on-best tournament held in nearly a decade.

While it’s true that Binnington was the goalie in the other crease that left the ice with a gold medal around his neck, that should only fuel Hellebuyck further in the quest for the one trophy that remains at the top of his wish list.

Hellebuyck plans to let his play do most of the talking once this series starts, but he shed some light on his mentality going into the series between Central Division rivals on Thursday.

For those wondering, he’s not concerning himself with trying to exorcise any playoff demons — that’s not how his mind works.

Hellebuyck isn’t worried about the recent results of an NHLPA player poll that had him as the third-ranked goalie behind Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Igor Shesterkin of the Rangers.

“Those are other people’s opinions,” said Hellebuyck. “I know where I’m at. I play the game for myself. I like my game. I like our team. We’ve got a lot to look (forward) for here. It’s just making sure my game is right and our details are right.”

Hellebuyck also weighed in on the Jets capturing back-to-back William Jennings Trophies for the team allowing the fewest goals the past two seasons — and he was quick to shout out Eric Comrie and Laurent Brossoit, who made a big impact but don’t get their names on the trophy officially because neither made 25 starts.

“It’s pretty cool. But both my backups played a phenomenal role in that,” said Hellebuyck. “They played 25 per cent of the games so, for me, it’s a team award. A tandem award. There’s just so much that goes into that.

“You can look back and it’s going to be great to see your name, but I think the true memories are going to be from what it took this team to get that.”

What type of memories will the Jets produce this spring?

That’s a big question.

A big part of the answer will revolve around Hellebuyck leading the way and delivering when the stakes get higher, even if the Jets aren’t nearly as reliant on him as they once were.

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @WiebesWorld