Hellebuyck part of the solution Jets’ elite goaltender a cornerstone of club’s present and future success By: Mike McIntyre Posted: 7:00 PM CST Tuesday, Mar. 8, 2022

Opinion

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This article was published 07/03/2022 (1024 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Connor Hellebuyck doesn’t look much like his old self these days. Doesn’t sound like himself, either. Gone is the usual bluster and bravado — who can forget his claim last year of how close his club was to being “a dynasty” — replaced by a visibly frustrated and clearly humbled athlete who is at a loss for answers and clearly isn’t having much fun right now.

And why should he be? His Winnipeg Jets are well outside the playoff picture, a once-promising season now circling the drain. Entering play Tuesday night, he had just 18 wins in 47 starts with a career-worst goals-against-average of 2.95, which ranks 25th out of 32 netminders who have started at least two dozen games this year. His save percentage isn’t much better, a pedestrian .910 that had him tied for 17th in that category.

For a fiercely proud and extremely confident player who already has one Vezina in his trophy case, and another finalist nomination, that’s not even close to meeting expectations. Nor is it the stuff of champions.

But here’s the thing about Hellebuyck, who has become a popular target for criticism around here lately. Yes, he’s definitely been part of the problem. But he’s absolutely part of the solution, too. And anyone who thinks the organization should cut ties with the 28-year-old Michigan product is out to lunch.

Hellebuyck is the kind of franchise goalie you build around, not the one you kick to the curb when the going gets tough. Especially when there’s no heir apparent knocking at the door, which there certainly is not. Maybe Mikhail Berdin gets there eventually and becomes the next Igor Shesterkin, but the 24-year-old Russian is still trying to find his way in the AHL.

Look, I’d be lining up to say a blockbuster Hellebuyck trade makes sense if the Jets were going to completely tear it all down and begin a long and painful re-build, the kind we’re seeing right now in places like Ottawa, Detroit and Buffalo. But they aren’t. Nor should they. This is a team that is once again spending to the salary cap ceiling, that has openly talked about a Stanley Cup window they believe opened in 2018 which is centred around a core of players of which Hellebuyck is a key part.

General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, and plenty both inside and outside the organization, felt he made the necessary moves last summer to address some of the holes in the lineup. Specifically on the blue-line in the form of veterans Nate Schmidt and Brenden Dillon. Clearly, more work needs to be done. And Hellebuyck needs some additional help, both directly in front of him, but also behind him.

Don’t discount what having a proven NHL backup like Laurent Brossoit meant the past three seasons, pushing Hellebuyck for playing time, stoking the competitive spirit and bringing out his best. No offence to Eric Comrie, a genuinely good human who has been mostly solid in spot duty but that’s simply not been the case this year. There is clearly not the same confidence from the coaching staff in giving Comrie the net, which is why he basically plays once or twice a month.

The Jets are now in this death spiral, where they desperately need wins and points and feel they can’t afford to give Hellebuyck a night off. And so he keeps appearing in the crease game after game, perhaps to the point of exhaustion. No other goaltender has made more starts, played more minutes, faced more shots, made more saves or let in more goals than Hellebuyck.

I asked interim coach Dave Lowry on Tuesday, prior to puck drop against the Tampa Bay Lightning, whether criticism of Hellebuyck is fair.

“There’s going to be critics no matter what his numbers are,” Lowry replied. “The one thing that Connor does is he gives us a chance to win every night.” As for the heavy-duty workload, Lowry believes his No. 1 guy is able to handle it, noting he occasionally skips practices in between starts as he did Monday to manage his rest.

There may be other factors at play here as well. Hellebuyck contracted COVID prior to training camp, and admits it knocked him off his feet for a couple weeks and hindered his pre-season training routine. Goalies are the most finicky athletes in the world, notorious creatures of habit who live and die by routine. That had to have an impact. He also became a new father earlier this season, which has no doubt brought along plenty of change off the ice as well.

It’s fair to point out Hellebuyck’s mediocre mainstream numbers don’t tell the whole story. Goals against, and even save percentage, are team stats to a degree. There are now other metrics to measure individual performance, and they certainly portray Hellebuyck in a better light.

According to Natural Stat Trick, Winnipeg has surrendered the fifth-most high danger scoring chances in the NHL. Despite that, they have the ninth-best high danger save percentage. Another popular analytics website, MoneyPuck, has Hellebuyck currently ranked as the 10th-best goaltender when it comes to goals saved above expected, which is a fancy way of saying he is still among the best at making saves the majority of others do not. That’s above Calgary’s Jacob Markstrom and Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko, who are viewed as having stellar campaigns and even getting Vezina whispers.

Does he have to be better? Absolutely. Is he the primary cause of what ails the club? Absolutely not.

Hellebuyck is under contract for two more seasons at an entirely reasonable US$6.16 million before he can walk into free agency in the summer of 2024. That should add even more urgency to the situation. Time is running out to get this right, or else the Jets will have truly wasted having one of the best in the world in the fold. And what a shame that would be.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg