The Connor Hellebuyck trade buzz is picking up, and three teams keep standing out as possible landing spots for the Winnipeg Jets goalie.
Buffalo is one of them. The Sabres took a real step forward last season and are expected to keep trending in the right direction, but their ceiling still comes back to one thing: goaltending.
This is a team that could use a true No. 1, and Hellebuyck would give them exactly that. He’s the kind of goalie who can handle 60-65 games and give Buffalo a real chance to matter in the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen finished last year with a .910% and a 2.25 goals-against average, but the consistency has been shaky. The season before, the position was even more of a problem.
Only one Sabres goalie finished above .900%, and that was James Reimer in 22 games.
New Jersey is another obvious fit. The Devils need stability in goal, and Jacob Markstrom was shipped to Florida.
Nico Daws and Jake Allen are not viewed as long-term answers, which makes Hellebuyck an attractive target for a team that already looks strong on paper. With him in net, the Devils could push to be a top-3 team in the Metropolitan Division.
The price would be steep, but New Jersey may be willing to put together the kind of package it would take.
Carolina rounds out the list. Yes, the team that just won the Stanley Cup is in the mix for Hellebuyck, and there’s a clear reason why: the Hurricanes have the assets and the cap space to make a deal work.
They already got strong production from Fredrick Anderson, Brandon Bussi, and Pytor Kotchekov, but that hasn’t stopped them from being linked to the biggest name still available. With their top players on team-friendly contracts, adding Hellebuyck would be the kind of move that puts an already good offseason over the top.
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Jean-Sbastien Dea has closed the book on a long professional hockey career that stretched from North America to Europe, announcing his retirement after more than a decade in the game. The former Sabres forward spent most of his time in the AHL, where he built a steady rsum as a productive, reliable depth scorer, while also earning a handful of NHL appearances along the way.
Deas path eventually carried him overseas, where he finished his career after stops in the KHL and DEL. He departs with 153 goals and 341 points in 517 AHL games, plus five goals and seven points in 37 NHL games, the kind of journey that underscored how many layers there are to a pro hockey career beyond the league spotlight. [Read more 🡒]
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