- Connor Hellebuyck is still a Winnipeg Jet with the season under 40 days out
- Daily Faceoff’s Tyler Yaremchuk thinks Winnipeg’s asking price is the whole holdup
- Read below for the quotes, the contract math and what Adam Lowry expects at camp
Connor Hellebuyck is still a Winnipeg Jet.
The 2026-27 season is under 40 days out and the biggest name on the trade board has not gone anywhere. A viewer asked Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton whether Hellebuyck is simply too expensive or teams are gun shy about his playoff work, and Yaremchuk answered with neither on a recent episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE.
“I don’t even know if it’s that, I just think the Jets might be asking for the sun, the moon, and the stars here.”
Catch the full segment:
Hutton took the same question and shot down the idea that anyone is scared of the player.
“I don’t think there’s any buyer beware here. If you have a chance to get Connor Hellebuyck as your goalie, you’re going to take it, but at what expense?”
Winnipeg also has a second option in net now. The Jets grabbed Stuart Skinner on the first day of free agency at two years and $3.75 million a season, and Kevin Cheveldayoff said at the time that the Skinner deal had nothing to do with Hellebuyck.
Time is the part that bothers Hutton. Hellebuyck turned 33 in May and has five seasons left at an $8.5 million cap hit, so sitting on him drains the return.
“If you’re the Winnipeg Jets, at some point you want to move him because at 33, if you wait two or three more years, there’s no more value left in them.”
Last season handed both arguments something to work with. Hellebuyck went 23-23-11 with a 2.86 goals-against average and a .895 save percentage around November knee surgery, then won Olympic gold with the United States in February on a 1.18 GAA and a .956 save percentage in five games.
Cheveldayoff said in June that the Jets were listening to offers. A rumored blockbuster with Buffalo fell apart before the draft, per Murat Ates of The Athletic, and nothing has come along since.
Ates asked Jets captain Adam Lowry last week what he expects from Hellebuyck this season. He did not sound like a man bracing for a trade:
Josh Morrissey said much the same thing this month, telling Ates he hopes Hellebuyck is back in September.
Camp opens next month. Unless somebody pays what Cheveldayoff is asking, Hellebuyck starts the year in a Jets sweater.
