The puck (often) stops at Hellebuyck

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This article was published 17/07/2020 (1878 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

We take you back to October, less than one week into the NHL’s 2019-20 campaign, and the Winnipeg Jets already had big trouble brewing in the Big Apple.

Connor Hellebuyck, fresh off a ho-hum pre-season and an ugly season-opening loss on Broadway against the New York Rangers, was being stapled to the bench for a second straight outing. The first, as part of a back-to-back in New Jersey in which the Jets rallied for a victory against the Devils in front of Laurent Brossoit, was expected. This one, against the New York Islanders, was most certainly not.

Cue the goalie controversy.

“Did it light a little bit of a fire under Helly? Yeah, it probably did,” Jets goalie coach Wade Flaherty admitted Friday.

Consider it all water under the Brooklyn Bridge. Hellebuyck not only quickly turned his early struggles around, he single-handedly saved the Jets on more than one occasion with a glowing body of work that is now being given the recognition it deserves.

“Obviously Laurent’s a great goalie, so whenever you see that situation start to play out, it’s more of a competition. We get along so well, it’s not like it was hostile between us.”
– Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck on being benched in favour of backup goalie Laurent Brossoit

The 27-year-old Michigan product has been named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top netminder after leading the league in shutouts (6), games played and shots faced. Overall, he had a 31-21-5 record with a 2.57 goals-against average and .922 save percentage — all while playing behind a blue-line which lost Dustin Byfuglien, Jacob Trouba, Tyler Myers and Ben Chiarot during the off-season.

“I guess it depends how you use it. Obviously Laurent’s a great goalie, so whenever you see that situation start to play out, it’s more of a competition. We get along so well, it’s not like it was hostile between us. It definitely helped to get a little competition and really kind of make sure I wasn’t making any mistakes or taking any days off,” Hellebuyck said of the early season wake-up call.

Tuukka Rask of the Boston Bruins and Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning are the other two nominees for the award, which is voted on by NHL general managers. The league plans to announce the winner in September during the conference finals of the playoffs.

This is the second time Hellebuyck has been a Vezina finalist, coming up short against Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators following the 2017-18 season. This time, he should be considered the favourite.

“At the beginning of the year, talked to all the new guys. And obviously going through training camp we made it very clear what we expect out of each other. I wouldn’t say it was a long process, but it was a good process to kind of adapt to each other. I love the guys in front of me, they play their hearts out every single night and I wouldn’t trade them for anyone else,” Hellebuyck said of the roster turnover.

There’s no question Nov. 1 in San Jose was the highlight of his season, a sparkling 51-save effort in a 3-2 victory over the Sharks that was nothing short of grand larceny by the badly outplayed visitors.

“Yeah, that will definitely be one of the milestones of my career, just because of the shot total,” said Hellebuyck.

Flaherty recalled watching his starter at the morning skate in the Shark Tank and sensing something special was about to happen.

“Working with him the last couple of years and getting to know him, he’s a goalie for sure. He’s got his weird little quirks, like I said, but he’s a good teammate. He’s always in that good mood and always bringing the energy up and challenging guys on and off the ice and making practices fun. You can tell he’s just a good, solid human.”
– Jets goalie Laurent Brossoit on his starter, Connor Hellebuyck

“Helly was very focused, as he always is, but he just had that little bit more of an edge going there. I had a real good feeling that he was gonna be really, really good that night. I didn’t expect us to give up over 50 shots, but he was on it and that pretty much was a great feeling for him and myself and the team,” he said.

After a lacklustre October in which they went 6-7-0, the Jets had a November to remember with a 11-3-1 run, thanks largely to their masked man.

“We needed to buy some time to kind of get our feet wet and get the new guys broken in, get the belief back. And that month of November he had did it. So that’s going to be the section where it could get better, like it did, or it could get a lot worse. He really excelled that month and we built an awful lot of confidence,” said Jets head coach Paul Maurice.

Brossoit, who has formed a strong partnership and friendship with Hellebuyck, said it was a treat to have a front-row seat to so many terrific performances.

“It’s his consistency and his details, he’s very methodical and he’s very organized in the way he thinks the game and the way he executes the game. No questions asked, I think he deserves to win the Vezina,” said Brossoit.

“Working with him the last couple of years and getting to know him, he’s a goalie for sure. He’s got his weird little quirks, like I said, but he’s a good teammate. He’s always in that good mood and always bringing the energy up and challenging guys on and off the ice and making practices fun. You can tell he’s just a good, solid human.”

Hellebuyck likely wasn’t in a very good mood three games into the regular season, even if he kept it to himself and used it as motivation with a terrific outing a couple days later in Pittsburgh.

Maurice said the bounce-back ability is one of Hellebuyck’s best attributes, along with his attention to detail and work ethic.

“I think he probably responded exactly the way we thought he would just based on the numbers he puts up after he gets pulled or after he has a game he doesn’t like,” said Maurice.

“Connor Hellebuyck doesn’t sulk if things don’t go his way. He gets a little ticked off. And he’s also not a guy that runs around pointing fingers. Truly. I mean I just know that there’s a lot of goalies that never feel they make a mistake, that if it’s in the back of their net, it’s not their fault. But Connor is unusual, because he’s at the other end of the spectrum but it doesn’t beat him down.”

The Jets are hoping Hellebuyck can pick up right where he left off when the puck drops on the Stanley Cup playoffs on Aug. 1.

 

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg