The latest Connor Hellebuyck twist has turned a simmering trade story into a full-blown public standoff. After months of whispers and conjecture, the Winnipeg Jets goalie confirmed Thursday that he has requested a trade. That makes him the eighth member of the 2026 gold-medal winning Team USA in the last 18 months to be traded or request a trade, and the fourth since the gold medal win to publicly seek a new NHL home.
It’s the kind of news that keeps the entire NHL trade conversation spinning, and Hellebuyck is the center of it today. Sportsnet reported that he has now gone public with what had previously been a private request made last spring.
The message is clear: Hellebuyck wants out of Winnipeg. Sportsnet also laid out five potential landing spots for the goalie.
The conversation around Canadian teams and American players has also picked up. Marty Biron had a frank discussion on TSN about the concern that Americans may not want to play for Canadian clubs.
It’s a real issue, and one that doesn’t appear to have a current solution. The thought being floated is a more traditional fix, though there’s also the idea of the league incorporating in Delaware or Nevada and creating a payment system that would allow players to receive something like signing bonuses in those states, which would help narrow the tax gap.
Not everyone is going to agree with that kind of pushback, and some general managers would likely answer with a hard no.
There was also a little extra spice in the mix from Brady Tkachuk, who admitted that he loves getting booed in Canadian cities.
Elsewhere in the hockey world, Florida is suddenly a big part of the Hellebuyck chatter. Florida Hockey Now noted that all eyes are on the Panthers as a possible landing spot, which would only add to the growing belief that they’re Stanley Cup favorites. But George Richards poured some cold water on that speculation and questioned the Hellebuyck-to-Florida idea.
In Pittsburgh, the focus is shifting in a different direction, and the debate around Evgeni Malkin isn’t going away. A second Penguins Q&A stirred up plenty of reaction, including misconceptions about the future of the Penguins’ Big 3. The response from fans has been striking: in a matter of months, the conversation around Malkin went from “should have traded him in 2018 or let him walk in 2022,” to “He’s a point per game player and can play as long as he wants!”
There are, to be sure, reasons it made sense for the Penguins to re-sign Malkin. But one of the public arguments being used - that he’s needed to help Egor Chinakhov develop - is being called a canard. A deeper look at why Kyle Dubas re-signed Malkin, and why it made sense from Dubas’s position, is coming.
The Penguins discussion also came with a site note: PHN+ is coming back, with the tech side having revamped the subscriber platform.
And for readers following the broader Pittsburgh beat, Steelers Now said it was an important preseason game. The take there was that Drew Allar looked like an NFL QB, with work still to do, while Will Howard did not. Alan Saunders had the full hard-truth takeaways.
There was also a story from Detroit Hockey Now about a former Red Wings goalie trying to keep his NHL career alive after a couple of difficult years and losing his spot, a reminder that the fight to stay in the league can be lonely and relentless.
In Other News...
Penguins Still Have Major Lineup Battles As Camp Gets Closer
With Penguins players beginning to filter back to Pittsburgh and training camp set to open in mid-September, the start of the new season is already bringing a familiar kind of roster uncertainty. The regular season is on the calendar for Sept. 30, but injuries to Rutger McGroarty, Bryan Rust and Kevin Hayes have complicated the early look at the lineup and left the team sorting through forward combinations, defense pairings and the shape of its goaltending plans.
For a club still trying to settle on roles, the remaining questions are not small ones. The Penguins appear to have some ideas about how the roster could line up, but there is still room for movement before camp really gets going, and the next few weeks should tell a lot about which players are penciled in and which ones are still fighting for a place. [Read more 🡒]
Ben Kindel Already Looks Like A Penguins Building Block
Ben Kindel has done more than simply stick around since training camp. The 19-year-old center earned a spot on the Penguins roster and went on to play a full season that helped push Pittsburgh into the playoffs, turning what began as a promising look into something far more substantial. Head coach Dan Muse spent the preseason putting Kindel into difficult matchups, and the youngster handled the assignment well, showing the kind of resilience and poise that tends to matter once the games start counting.
The scoring output has only added to the sense that the Penguins may have something real here. Kindels work as an 18-year-old put him in a small class of NHL players in the salary cap era to reach 15 or more goals at that age, a notable marker for a player still early in his career. For a team looking to build around younger pieces without losing its competitive edge, that is the sort of development that can change how the roster looks in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Just Opened A Bigger Malkin Question For Dubas
Evgeni Malkins new one-year deal with the Penguins keeps the veteran center in Pittsburgh for at least another season, and it also says plenty about how Kyle Dubas views the roster right now. The contract, signed May 26, comes with performance bonuses and possible playoff incentives, while Dubas pointed to Malkins improved play after time off and even his comfort on the wing as part of the case for bringing him back. For a team still trying to shape its lineup, that makes Malkin more than just a familiar name on the sheet.
The bigger question is what comes next around him. Pittsburgh has been working to add more players, and any move in that direction could have a ripple effect on where Malkin fits and how the Penguins want to deploy their forwards. A one-year extension keeps the conversation open rather than settled, which is very much in line with where this roster appears to be heading as Dubas continues to build around an aging core and search for the right mix. [Read more 🡒]