The Winnipeg Jets still haven’t traded Connor Hellebuyck.
Until that happens, it’s a reality that is going to overshadow anything else that they’re doing this season.
The superstar goalie remains off the ice as Winnipeg looks for a trade, and that can’t be ideal for him.
“We can guess that Connor Hellebuyck misses playing hockey badly, and that he’s champing at the bit, waiting for a trade,” Bleacher Report’s Joe Yerdon writes. “The standoff between the star goalie and the Winnipeg Jets continues, with no end — or trade — in sight. The Jets going about business and moving on without him, with Stuart Skinner and Clay Stevenson in goal, shows that the waiting won’t just be the hardest part; it might take a bit longer, too.”
It takes two to tango, though, and while there are teams that would obviously benefit from a Vezina Trophy winner and gold medalist in goal, there aren’t a ton of the obvious landing spots that have urgency for Hellebuyck.
The Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes and San Jose Sharks, for instance, all seem in decent shape right now without giving up assets for Hellebuyck.
Lack of Urgency
The best way for the Jets to get a Hellebuyck trade done is if another team desperately needs him.
At least so far, that doesn’t feel like the case.
“Yes, we’re looking at you, Edmonton, although it sounds like Hellebuyck doesn’t want to stay in Canada,” Yerdon writes. “But other teams like San Jose, Carolina, Utah, and Buffalo are all handling things well enough not to make a sudden change. All it takes is one big injury or some seriously poor play at the position; otherwise, Hellebuyck having to wait things out can’t feel great for him.”
The fanbases of the teams mentioned above would probably love Hellebuyck, but the Jets’ asking price might still be a little high for contending teams who have now gotten their season underway.
“Now that games are being played and looking at how those interested teams are playing, you wonder if the market is any different at all and if Hellebuyck’s desperation for a change might get him to agree to go somewhere he might not want to play, in a situation that might make playing goalie far more difficult as well,” Yerdon writes.
Who Blinks First?
It really does feel like a case of one party in this situation needing to blink first and give up on the staredown.
Does Hellebuyck decide that he’s fine just staying in Winnipeg? Does another team decide to up its offer? Do the Jets choose to take a lesser deal just to get rid of the saga?
Right now, it’s clear there isn’t enough push in any of those spots to get a deal done, and so Hellebuyck is just off the ice, probably wishing he could just be in a goal again.
It’ll happen eventually, but the ‘when’ is still quite fuzzy at the moment.
Jets Trading Connor Hellebuyck to Hurricanes, Sabres, Sharks Runs Into Problem