Hellebuyck riding high

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This article was published 13/01/2025 (252 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Connor Hellebuyck would love to take former teammate Dustin Byfuglien up on his offer.

After the retired Winnipeg Jets defenceman sent a video message that was played during Hellebuyck’s pre-game ceremony last Friday night — simply stating “keep kicking ass, I’ll see you on the water”— the reigning Vezina Trophy winner sent him a thank-you text.

“First thing he said is ‘Let’s go fishing.’” Hellebuyck said of the reply he got from his fellow avid outdoorsman. “I’m pretty excited and going to try and make that work. Hopefully it’s late in the summer.”

Translation: He hopes to be tied up with hockey through June with his club on a lengthy playoff run. Those odds certainly increase if Hellebuyck maintains his current form, which includes being named the NHL’s First Star of the week on Monday (veteran forwards Jordan Staal of Carolina and Patrick Kane of Detroit were the second and third stars).

It was a memorable few days, with Hellebuyck becoming the 30th goalie in NHL history with at least 500 games played/300 wins/40 shutouts last Tuesday in a 5-2 victory over Tuesday. That milestone was celebrated at Canada Life Centre, with Byfuglien and several other past and current Jets congratulating him.

He was joined on the ice by his father, and his wife and their two children who received a replica of the silver stick presented to him. Hellebuyck joked they loved their mini-versions “a little too much — we might have to get that re-polished.”

Even his dog, Tinley, got in on the act with a barking video message that included some English subtitles.

“I don’t know who translated that, but they spoke dog perfectly,” said Hellebuyck.

“It was great. The cameos were great. Buff getting on there and saying seeing you on the water was hilarious. Just a little piece of everyone that helped me along the way.”

There were also multiple chants of “MVP” for Hellebuyck, who should be getting legitimate Hart Trophy consideration at this point in the season given the way he’s lapping the field when it comes to goaltending statistics.

“It was pretty wild,” Hellebuyck said of hearing that.

“The whole experience was awesome. Fans made it great. I knew they would. The organization made it great. It was a really cool experience. I’m very grateful for everyone around me and they did a great job.”

Hellebuyck was back in net on Saturday night and picked up where he left off, picking up career win No. 301 (and shutout No. 43 in career game No. 539) as the Jets beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-0.

Ho-hum, another day at the office. Are we seeing the best hockey of his 10-year career right now?

“Absolutely,” said Hellebuyck.

“When I’m watching my games and I’m looking at how things play out in front of me, how much do I know what’s going on? How far ahead of it? Those are really good right now. And that only comes because the team is so predictable in front of me and playing such a good defensive hockey game. Everyone is pretty much where they need to be at all times and that makes my life extremely easy.”

To put things in perspective, Hellebuyck has as many regulation losses (six) as he does shutouts this season. He’s a huge reason why Winnipeg is currently tied with Los Angeles for the lowest team goals-against-average of 2.45 per game, in addition to being a sizzling 21-0-1 in games they are leading through 40 minutes.

“I think that’s the biggest thing this year. We’ve learned that our game is good enough and we need to stick with it and trust it,” said Hellebuyck. “It might take all 60 minutes, and there might be a night where it doesn’t work out. But the majority of the time, it’s going to give us the best chance to win.”

Although his teammates don’t get a vote, Hellebuyck would be at the top of their Hart Trophy ballots.

“I think that certainly is a deserved chant, I think it’s certainly deserved that he belongs in that conversation,” said Jets captain Adam Lowry.

“Obviously, we have a long way to go and we’re far off from the end of the year, but he’s had an incredible start. He’s had an incredible stretch and he’s had an incredible career, so I think it’s fair that he finally gets recognized, kind of gets into that conversation and how that plays out down the stretch, who knows? But I think he certainly deserves that.”

INJURY UPDATES: Jets forward Vlad Namestnikov will miss a second consecutive game on Tuesday against the Vancouver Canucks as he deals with a lower-body injury suffered while blocking a shot in the third period of last Friday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Kings. He tried skating prior to Monday’s practice but ultimately pulled the plug.

“We’re going to see how he feels every day,” said coach Scott Arniel, who doesn’t believe it will be a long-term issue.

Dominic Toninato made his season debut against the Avalanche an is expected to remain in the lineup, as the Jets don’t have any extra healthy forwards with Mason Appleton also sidelined with injury and not yet skating. A recall from the Moose — who are coming off a terrific 4-0-1 road trip — is possible.

“Great to see. It was a little bit like what they did last year where they got off to a slow start and now they are up and running with lots of new faces down there,” Arniel said of the AHL club, which had been struggling mightily.

“You don’t want them to make it a long year and lose a lot of hockey games, so it was a good road trip for them. There are people down there that we are maybe going to count on here and when they learn all the good lessons down there it is obviously positive for the organization.”

On the blue-line, Haydn Fleury shed his non-contact sweater for the first time Monday and is getting closer to a return after getting hurt Dec. 23.

“He has to do some more (conditioning) and maybe we will see by Thursday or maybe by the weekend,” Arniel said of a potential return to action.

Fleury will give the Jets eight healthy defencemen. That could soon grow to nine, as Colin Miller (out since Jan. 4) has started skating on his own and should join the main group later this week.

“We haven’t seen that all year,” Arniel said of the crowded back-end. “Right from day one of training camp losing Stan (Logan Stanley) and Ville (Heinola). We have tried to go by committee there and we have used a lot of guys. As I mentioned before, our depth has really helped us.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg