Connor Hellebuyck’s future with the Winnipeg Jets is still hanging in the balance, and one NHL insider doesn’t believe he’ll still be there when the season opens.
That uncertainty has been building for a while. Winnipeg’s 2024-25 season started with the kind of success most teams would sign up for in a heartbeat, as the Jets won the Presidents Trophy with Hellebuyck leading the way.
He took home both the Vezina Trophy and the Hart Trophy, but that regular-season dominance never fully carried over once the playoffs arrived. Winnipeg survived a first-round scare against the St.
Louis Blues in Game 7 overtime, then fell in the second round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The follow-up in 2025-26 never got back on track. Hellebuyck missed time after knee surgery, though he still delivered one of the biggest moments of his career by helping Team USA win the Gold Medal at the 2026 Olympics. Even so, the Jets unraveled late and finished with 82 points, seventh in the Central Division and 12th in the Western Conference.
That collapse only added fuel to the speculation around Hellebuyck’s future. His comments about complacency and the cost of keeping or signing players in Winnipeg drew plenty of attention, and while those remarks weren’t off base, they also put general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff under pressure to make the roster better.
There was even a real chance the situation could have changed before July 1st. Winnipeg talked trade with the Buffalo Sabres at the 2026 NHL Draft, but the deal reportedly fell apart because the Jets would not include the 8th overall pick.
The Jets also checked in with the Florida Panthers, New Jersey Devils, and Carolina Hurricanes, but Florida and Carolina did not have the right pieces. Florida went in another direction with Jacob Markstrom and Akira Schmid, while Carolina is sticking with Brandon Bussi and Pyotr Kochetkov.
There’s also uncertainty about whether Hellebuyck is a Sunny Mehta guy.
The rumors haven’t gone away, though, and Jim Biringer of NHLRumors.com and Full Press Hockey didn’t sound optimistic when he was asked on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio whether Hellebuyck would still be a Jet by the playoffs.
Host: “And is it Hellebuyck even there, Jim? I know we’re guessing, but that’s what we do on Sports Talk Radio.
We speculate. So speculate: Is he a Jet when we get to the playoffs?”
Jim Biringer: “No, I don’t think he’s a Jet to be honest. I don’t think he’s going to be a Jet to begin the season. I think they’re gonna find a way.”
Host: “Oh, okay, okay.”
Biringer added, “I think they’re going to figure out a way to make this happen because I think unless you’re going to have a heart-to-heart with him, I don’t think the moves they made are enough to say, ‘Hey, come on back and try again.’ I think he wants to go win. I’m just not sure the Winnipeg Jets are a playoff team.”
Trades can happen in the middle of summer, even with training camp still ahead, so the door is far from closed. But the price to land Hellebuyck is steep, and with so much still unresolved, this is one situation worth watching closely.
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