Hellebuyck was just sent down to the AHL move. This is a bad move. Helle is clearly ready to rumble in the NHL. Obviously the Jets are not going to part with Pavelec until his contract is up. However, IMHO, they should have placeed Hutch on waivers. There would have been a good chance Hutch cleared waivers, and could be sent down to the Moose. If not, no big loss as Comrie and Phillips are waiting in the wing.
Teams figured out Hutch after all-star game (blocker side high). They will figure him out again. I could be wrong, but if it comes down to a choice between Hutch and Hellebuyck, we should go with the future franchise goalie.
A few things....
I mean my first point is that Pav had the same save percentage last year in the NHL as Helle did in the AHL, so lets not jump way ahead of ourselves in over estimating his long term consistency. The numbers don't back it up. Yes, Helle had a good WC tournament, and I'm hoping he will become our franchise, but lets not rush it.
Goalies take forever to find their groove in the NHL. It's why the single most important, potentially game changing player, almost never gets drafted first overall. And look at the two that have. They're nothing special.
Price had one of the most lights-out seasons in goaltending history, but look at the guy's numbers just two years prior - he had a 90.5% save. I remember going into the Olympics thinking, which one of our goalies is least likely to suck hard. It was between Price, Smith, and I don't remember who else. When they decided on Price, the consensus was sort of like "...er.. I guess he's the best we got", not "Holy crap we have the best goalie in hockey, lets do this!". My point there, is that goalies take a really long time to establish themselves.
The reason goalies rarely get drafted high is that there is almost no way to tell at a drafting age whether a goalie will turn out to be Price, or turn out to be Dipietro. People are waaaayyyy too oversold on a guy based on him playing on an Elite defensive National team, against quite a few... terrible international countries. Imagine how inflated Pav's stats would be if we played teams the caliber of Team Switzerland every other game.
Now, I'm not a Hellebuyck hater by any stretch. I hope the guy is our future. And I'm not exactly a Pavy fan either. But with Pavy, he's finally approaching an age where a typical goalie can actually make a step up from questionable to good. Guys like Craig Anderson and Carey Price were not franchise goaltenders before they hit 30. Anderson kind of sucked when he played for Colorado at age 27-28. Price kind of sucked around that age too. Having a goalie who is considered franchise in their early 20's is so extremely rare. Like I can only think of Patrick Roy. Otherwise, we get flashes in the pan like Hammond, who we have seen now, just had a bit of a hot streak, then came back to reality. Now, if Ottawa didn't have the luxury of Anderson as their starter. If they had some questionable starter, everyone would have wanted them to can that guy, and sign Hammond to a huge deal. Then they can live with that performance like he put on last night for years to come. I'm just not convinced that Hellebuyuck is some generational goaltender who is amazing from his rookie year, and I'm not in a rush to kick him off the deep end to watch him drown. I want the guy to get some experience, not play backup, hoping Pavy plays bad enough to give him ice time. I want him to get some hours in with pro level goalie coaches, and get used to some pro shots, and build his confidence so when his time comes, he can step in there and actually make an impact.