Rumor: Why did teams not trade for Hellebuyck?

[Guffman]

Connor Hellebuyck has been a consistently elite workhorse goaltender for years now. He is a technical goalie who relies on positioning rather than the agile floppers, the latter type who degrade in their 30s.

The Winnipeg Jets had underperformed for a few years and Hellebuyck was adamant about playing for a serious Stanley Cup contender. It is extremely rare for an elite goaltender to be made available. Michael Russo of The Athletic said that the New Jersey Devils, alongside the Buffalo Sabres, were unwilling to pay the Winnipeg Jets the massive cost they were looking for in a potential Connor Hellebuyck trade. Was that the right choice?

Let's look at some of the potential goaltender needy teams from this offseason:

Buffalo Sabres

Buffalo is on a frightful drought of having missed the playoffs since their 2010-2011 season. Over recent years, they had accumulated some impressive young talent, some superstar quality, and were emerging. They were close to qualifying last season but their starting goaltender, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen posted a 3.61 GAA and .891 save %. The only other competent goaltender was 41 year old Craig Anderson but he finally retired.

Should Buffalo have made the massive goaltending upgrade to break the drought and help propel this young, star studded team into the playoffs and Cup contention?

Buffalo fans were adamant that Devon Levi was The Chosen One and they had no need to spend assets on Hellebuyck. How is Levi doing this year? 3.66 GAA 0.879 save %. YIKES! No surprise that Buffalo is a sub .500 team.

Did Buffalo make a mistake passing on this opportunity?

New Jersey Devils

The Devils finished 3rd overall, powered by their many young stars. They were similar to Buffalo except their defense was stronger to carry its mediocre goaltenders (which eventually collapsed in the playoffs). New Jersey turned over their defense to younger players, adding more pressure on its sub-par goalies. Was that a winning decision to build on its massive prior season?

This season, Vanecek is posting a 3.44 GAA and .886 save %. Schmid is posting similar miserable numbers: 3.46 GAA and .885 save %. What was once an elite team has fallen to the second worst squad in the Eastern Conference.

Did New Jersey make a mistake passing on this opportunity?

Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers made a big bet with Jack Campbell and it blew up in their face last year. Fortunately, unproven Stuart Skinner saved their regular season but when it came to the playoffs, he flopped and was replaced in a few games by Campbell.

We have been told that 2023-24 season is "The Year" for the Oilers. Stanley Cup or Bust! But were they serious by going to war with Campbell and Skinner again?

Campbell has completely lost his game and has been banished to the AHL. Skinner has posted a 3.66 GAA and .865 save %. The Oilers have sunk to 5-12-1 and fired their head coach and are desperate to figure out how to salvage the season.

Did the Oilers make a mistake in not upgrading their goaltending this offseason?

Summary

Many fan bases said that you no longer need a solid #1 goaltender to be successful and they point out the success that Vegas had last season. If any of you actually watched the playoffs, Vegas just absolutely destroyed any opposition goaltender and they could have put a pilon in net and still be successful. It's not a formula that would have wide spread success.

To those fans that dismissed the notion of paying the cost to secure an elite goaltender, are you now reconsidering your stance given the blight of your seasons to date?

Click to read more...

 

[Mrfenn92]

Did the jets even want to move him

 

[thusk]

to trade for a goalie, this goalie should be available and most pf the time team had great one having absolutly no interest to trade him unstead they doesn't have choice.

 

[EK392000]

He probably didn't mind staying in Winnipeg but floated the idea of playing for an American team to drive his price up. I don't think he formally requested a trade.

 

[andora]

Cheveldayoff probably forgot to turn his out of office off

 

[waitin425]

Did the jets even want to move him

That's the big question.

From what I've heard, Helle....and a few other Jets players, are big time outdoorsmen. No better place in the world to enjoy some outdoor fun, anonymity and decent Canadian people than Manitoba and NW Ontario. Lake of the Woods is a dream for a guy with a little bit of cash and a love of fishing!

 

[Ace]

Buffalo didn’t bother to do anything they should have/needed to do. They weren’t going to take a big swing. They won’t even pick up the bat.

 

[Guffman]

Did the jets even want to move him

Given that Winnipeg is not an attractive destination as a UFA market, when star players are going into the last year of their contracts, the Jets either have to extend them or trade them. It was a situation where the Jets may have been forced to move him if Hellebuyck didn't extend.

It looks like other contending teams were not willing to give Hellebuyck his retirement contract and trade the necessary assets so he extended with Winnipeg.

 

[MOGlLNY]

Sabres goaltending has been overall fine so far. Levi definitely needs to be in the AHL and your generalization of saying we all crowned as the savior this year couldn’t be more off.

Nearly all of us wanted him in the AHL and Adams decided he felt he would be able to skip that portion. Why? We have no idea. But he’s been wrong and it’s not too late to send him down with UPL and Comrie both being solid-ish this year.

Its our scoring that has been our biggest issue.

 

[Gabe Kupari]

It's said it's because they never seriously shopped him. Bottom line. They didn't shop him, maybe teams called about him but they weren't interested in moving him.

 

[NjdevilfanJim]

No regrets that's a big contract for a guy who is 30....Too much risk...Way Devils are playing in front of the goalie has a lot to do with what's wrong with them so far this year...

 

[MOGlLNY]

Also Guffman starting these threads back to back with a heavy target on the Sabres. Jeez pal, leave us alone. We’re miserable enough.

 

[admiralcadillac]

Because teams have been under the impression you can get by with average goaltending as long as you don’t pay for it.

 

[Gabe Kupari]

No regrets that's a big contract for a guy who is 30....Too much risk...Way Devils are playing in front of the goalie has a lot to do with what's wrong with them so far this year...

Why is it a risk for a guy who doesn't rely on making ridiculous saves and relies more on positioning? Goalies have played into their 40s

 

[Junohockeyfan]

Why is it a risk for a guy who doesn't rely on making ridiculous saves and relies more on positioning? Goalies have played into their 40s

You don't want a goalie in he late 30's earning 8.5M. You certainly do not want a goalie in his 40's. That's not good.

 

[Gabe Kupari]

You don't want a goalie in he late 30's earning 8.5M.

Why? The cap will be over 100 million by then.

 

[Junohockeyfan]

Why? The cap will be over 100 million by then.

Or it might not. No one predicted the number of years of flat cap experienced.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Because he's 30, and needed a new contract, which would start when he's already 31. And it's a big 7 year contract.

The problem with trading goalies, is the position. It's play or sit on.the bench. There's no drop him.down a line. There's no make him a checker. It's 60min or nothing.

If you're giving up real assets for him, you have to know it'll work. You never know with goalies though. And goalies are usually so important, that if you're giving up an elite one, there has to be something wrong, so why would I give up premium assets for a guy like that? Why would you, a team with an elite goalie, be trading him?

There's no value in a goalie trade. When is the last time a big name goalie was either traded for a lot, or was worth a significant price? Not for a 5th rd pick, but a real hockey trade?

It's why he signed that contract in Winnipeg. They weren't going to get real value for him, nobody else is giving up much for 1 year and a huge contract, so Winnipeg's choice was live with him for the next 8 years, good or bad, or basically let him walk.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

Hmmmm maybe trade ideas that are said online aren't always true?

 

[SoupNazi]

This isn’t a rumor.