Hellebuyck Trade: Dreger Doubts He Reports to Jets Camp

Connor Hellebuyck might not bother showing up.

TSN’s Darren Dreger said Tuesday that it is unclear whether the Jets goaltender will report to training camp when it opens Thursday, and that people around him do not expect him there. Winnipeg is planning to address the situation either way.

Dreger laid it out on Insider Trading:

The market has not moved an inch. Dreger said interest in Hellebuyck remains minimal, and the Jets still do not have a single offer on the table they consider fair.

Part of it is simple supply and demand. Most of the contenders who would want a goalie of his caliber already have one, and the clubs that do see him as an upgrade keep calling with discount pricing. That is not what Winnipeg is taking for a three-time Vezina winner, and it is why Dreger called the offers terrible a day earlier.

Buffalo and Carolina both poked around earlier in the summer. Neither got close.

Hellebuyck asked out once the regular season ended and went public with it in late August. He is signed through 2030-31 at an $8.5 million cap hit and holds a full no-movement clause, so nothing happens anywhere unless he signs off on it.

He also skipped the Jets golf tournament Monday, the first official team event of the year. Nobody was surprised by that one.

Last year was rough. Hellebuyck went 23-23-11 with a 2.86 goals-against average and an .895 save percentage while Winnipeg dropped 34 points in the standings and missed the playoffs a season after winning the Presidents’ Trophy.

February told a different story. He carried Team USA to Olympic gold, which is a fair reminder of what he still is when the team in front of him holds up.

Camp opens Thursday in Winnipeg with or without the franchise goalie, and the Jets are going to be asked about him either way.