Hart Trophy nomination for Hellebuyck

ST. LOUIS — Take another bow, Connor Hellebuyck.

While the Winnipeg Jets goaltender may not be thrilled with his playoff performance so far, the accolades keep rolling in for his incredible regular season.

Earlier this week it was a fifth Vezina Trophy nomination, which is almost certainly going to result in a second straight win and third of his career.

On Thursday it was a first-ever Hart Trophy nomination, something goaltenders rarely are in the mix for. Only seven have ever done so in NHL history, for a total of eight times. Montreal’s Carey Price was the last to win it during the 2014-15 season.

Hellebuyck is competing with Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers and Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the most valuable player to his team award.

“He’s our MVP and he’s got our vote, so to see him getting recognized there is an amazing accomplishment,” said Jets defencemen Dylan DeMelo.

Members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association cast ballots for the Hart Trophy, while NHL general managers decide on the Vezina.

Hellebuyck, 31, is coming off the best season of his career, setting a new high in wins (47), a new low in goals-against average (2.00) and a new high in save percentage (.925). The Michigan product is in the first year of a seven-year contract extension with Winnipeg.

Hellebuyck is 3-2 so far in the playoffs against St. Louis with a 3.96 goals-against average and .822 save percentage. He spoke earlier this week about needing to be better for his team after getting pulled in consecutive blowout losses to the Blues in Games 3 and 4.

While he wasn’t all that busy in Wednesday’s Game 5 in stopping 16 of 19 shots, Hellebuyck added to his lengthy highlight reel with a spectacular diving paddle save off Oskar Sundqvist that kept it tied 1-1 early in the second period.

“Next level. It was just one of those saves where you’re like, ‘oh my goodness.’ It gets you out of your seat,” said DeMelo. “Just a fantastic save and huge moment in the game there. They score one there, maybe that changes the outlook of the game.”

Hellebuyck will be back between the pipes on Friday night as the Jets try to eliminate the Blues and move on to the second round. The award winners are expected to be announced at the end of the playoffs.

Draisaitl led the NHL in goals with 52 and previously won the Hart in 2019-20. This is his second nomination. Kucherov led the NHL in points with 117 and is a three-time Hart finalist, winning it in 2018-19.

“That’s an amazing accomplishment, obviously, to be in the running with those names,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel.

“That’s a huge honour and well-deserved, in my eyes and certainly in his teammates’, the Winnipeg organization, (we’re) awfully proud of what he’s accomplished. We know what he means to us, and at the end of the day, for him to be in that running, it doesn’t happen very often with goalies. He can be very proud of that.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg