Hart for Hellebuyck heard through the grapevine?

This might be the equivalent of scoring on your own net.

It appears the NHL may have sprung a leak and drowned out any drama surrounding two major year-end award winners. A photo currently making the rounds on social media appears to show Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck kneeling in front of the Vezina and Hart trophies.

Whoopsie!

It’s not clear where the image originated and one should always be wary of manipulation and fakes in this age of artificial intelligence. Neither the league nor the Jets will comment.

But it’s an intriguing twist considering the league has done away with a traditional awards ceremony this season, opting for a more grassroots approach to handing out hockey hardware. They have been pre-recording videos recently in which the winners of various honours, including the Selke Trophy, Masterton and Jack Adams, have been surprised on the spot.

There’s still a few more big ones to come, including the best goaltender and league MVP, which are set to be unveiled this Thursday at 5 p.m. CT in an hour-long TV special before Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers.

The purported Hellebuyck photo, which appears to have been taken near a lake, includes a large boom microphone hanging above him and an unidentified person capturing the moment on their phone.

There’s no question Hellebuyck is a slam-dunk to win the Vezina, which would be his second-straight and third overall. The 32-year-old essentially lapped the goaltending field this past year as he went 47-12-3 in 62 starts with a 2.00 goals-against-average, a .925 save percentage and eight shutouts.

Andrei Vasilevskiy (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Darcy Kuemper (Los Angeles Kings) are the other two finalists, but the only mystery is which one is going to finish second to Hellebuyck.

The much bigger development would be Hellebuyck becoming just the eighth goaltender in NHL history — and the first since Carey Price in 2014-15 — to capture the Hart.

Tampa’s Nikita Kucherov (who led the league in points) and Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl (who scored the most goals) are the other two finalists, and Kucherov was just named the Ted Lindsay Award winner as “most outstanding player” as voted on by fellow skaters.

The Hart is decided by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, while NHL general managers vote on the Vezina. All ballots had to be turned in before the playoffs, where Hellebuyck struggled at times in going 6-7 with a 3.08 goals-against average and .866 save percentage.

Stay tuned. And, if Hellebuyck does take home the hardware, at least pretend to act surprised.

 

Speaking of awards

Scott Arniel will have to settle for second-best this time around.

The Jets head coach finished as the runner-up to Washington Capitals bench boss Spencer Carbery for the Jack Adams Award, which was announced this past weekend.

Carbery received 81 of the 103 first-place votes cast by members of the NHL Broadcasters’ Association and finished with 464 voting points overall. Arniel got 16 first-place votes and had 249 points, while Marty St. Louis of the Montreal Canadiens was third with 66 points.

A total of 13 different coaches received at least one vote for first, second or third. Funny enough, neither Paul Maurice (Florida) or Kris Knoblauch (Edmonton) were among them, despite their teams meeting in the Stanley Cup for the second straight spring.

Carbery led the Capitals to top spot in the Eastern Conference and second overall in the regular-season standings behind only Arniel’s Jets, who went a franchise-best 56-22-4. Both Washington and Winnipeg won their first-round playoff series before getting knocked out in the second round.

 

Prized prospect staying put?

One of the more intriguing prospects in the Jets’ pipeline might be staying put in Russia.

Dmitry Rashevsky, who was selected by Winnipeg in the fifth round of the 2021 draft, was a pending free agent after spending the past five years with Moscow Dynamo of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said last month the team was in talks with his agent about potentially bringing the 24-year-old to North America for the first time.

However, news surfaced this past weekend that Rashevsky has now signed a three-year offer sheet with rival Avangard Omsk of the KHL, which would seemingly close that door.

However, in a plot twist, reports emerged Monday that Dynamo will exercise its option to match — but then plans to turn around and trade Rashevsky to another team, Metallurg Magnitogorsk. If Rashevsky balks at that, could he potentially pull a power play and take his puck skills across the pond after all?

Rashevsky had 40 points (19G, 21A) in 65 games this past season and scored 24, 19 and 19 goals in the three seasons prior to that. He would be a nice add to the organization’s forward depth.

There’s often a big risk with drafting Russian skaters, and it’s the sole reason Rashevsky slipped as far as he did in his draft year.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg