Connor Hellebuyck may have slipped a spot in NHL Network’s latest goaltender rankings, but the bigger issue in Winnipeg has nothing to do with No. 1 versus No. 2.
The Jets’ franchise goalie is still right near the top of the league - he moved from first to second behind Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy in the annual list - but his status with the team is the real story as training camp gets closer.
That uncertainty has hung over Winnipeg since the end of a frustrating 2025-26 season, when the Jets missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs one year after winning the Presidents’ Trophy. Hellebuyck, now 33, was openly unhappy after the season, and general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff later said the club was willing to hear trade offers for him, though he did not say Hellebuyck had formally asked out.
Since the NHL Draft and the start of free agency, the chatter has quieted down. That hasn’t made the situation any clearer.
Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman recently said there has been little recent movement, while still believing the three-time Vezina Trophy winner will eventually be traded. There is also still an expectation that Hellebuyck may not be with the Jets when camp opens next month.
If that happens, Winnipeg will be dealing with an immediate problem instead of just an offseason rumor.
The Jets at least gave themselves a little protection in goal by signing Stuart Skinner to a two-year, $7.5-million deal on July 1. Skinner would give the team an experienced NHL starter if Hellebuyck is moved, even if that doesn’t look like a move made by someone expecting to spend the next two years as a backup playing 15-20 games a season maximum. Skinner also shares an agent with Hellebuyck and former Jets backup Eric Comrie.
Cheveldayoff has said Hellebuyck’s situation was not the reason Skinner was added, and the team technically doesn’t have to do anything. Hellebuyck has five years left on the seven-year, $59.5-million contract he signed with Winnipeg in October 2023, which gives the Jets far more control than they had the last time trade talk followed him three summers ago, when he was heading toward unrestricted free agency.
Still, control is not the same thing as certainty.
Winnipeg is coming off a 35-35-12 season and finished seventh in the Central Division. The club has made some smaller changes this summer and keeps saying the goal is to win. That gets a lot harder if Hellebuyck is gone.
And even after the worst statistical season of his career, NHL Network still has him second among all goaltenders in the sport. That’s a reminder of just how hard he’d be to replace.
Over his back-to-back Vezina-winning seasons, Hellebuyck went 84-31-7 with a 2.19 goals-against average and .923 save percentage. One year ago, he also won the Hart Trophy along with the Vezina.
If Winnipeg does end up moving him, the return would need to help reshape a roster that still wants to compete. The Jets have long wanted more help in their top six, and a Hellebuyck deal would be their best chance to land an impact player - ideally a centreman - without tearing everything down.
The challenge, of course, is finding a team with the need, cap room and trade pieces to make a deal that big work.
For now, Hellebuyck is still a Jet, at least officially. And back home in Michigan, he has been skating in Winnipeg Jets-branded practice gear and Lake of the Woods Sports Headquarters outdoors gear. It doesn’t prove anything, but it also doesn’t look like a player already mentally gone.
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Jets Core Could Make 2026 27 Feel Bigger Than A Fresh Start
The 2026-27 season could carry a little more meaning for Winnipeg than the usual reset or retool talk, because so much of the Jets core is lining up for milestone chases at the same time. Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele and Nino Niederreiter are all creeping toward meaningful offensive benchmarks, while Neal Pionk and Josh Morrissey sit on the doorstep of key career markers on the blue line. Even Connor Hellebuyck, whose game has long been defined by steadiness rather than pageantry, is approaching personal goals in wins and shutouts.
For a team that still has bigger ambitions than any individual achievement, those milestones only add another layer to a season that already figures to matter. Winnipeg has built its identity around that core group, and if the Jets are still in the hunt when the calendar flips to 2026-27, the chase for career points, games and victories could unfold alongside the real prize. The champagne moment the franchise wants most remains the Stanley Cup, but the path there may come with a few notable stops along the way. [Read more 🡒]