Winnipeg Jet’s goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who was the target of trade talks last summer, signed a new deal right before the season, buying into the Jets’ philosophy. You could see his attitude change on the ice, as Hellebuyck is the presumed Vezina Trophy winner this season. He won the Jennings Memorial Trophy as the Jets gave up the fewest goals in the NHL this season.
Hellebuyck had the numbers to back it up. In 60 starts, Hellebuyck had a record of 37-19-4 with a 2.39 goals against average, a .921 save percentage, and five shutouts. More is expected of you in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with numbers like that.
Unfortunately for Hellebuyck and the Jets, his past playoff performances speak volumes. In his last seven playoff appearances over the past two seasons, Connor Hellebuyck is 1-7 with a 5.24 goals against average and a .868 save percentage. That is not good enough.
Last year, in a five-game series against the Vegas Golden Knights, Hellebuyck gave up 18 goals. Through four games in this series against the Colorado Avalanche, He has given up 19 goals. This is not good enough, especially when his team needed the big saves. Bowness pulled Hellebuyck after the second period after giving up his fourth goal of the night.
Through two periods in Game 3, Hellebuyck stopped 25 of the 27 shots faced, but in the third period, the Avalanche scored four goals on 14 shots as part of a five-goal third period. For a Jets team that takes pride in giving up the fewest goals, their structure and goaltender have let them down.
2 Comments
Yikes
Thanks for posting. Been thinking about this. It's pretty crazy. Helle looked terrible in the playoffs, and exactly the same this last pre-seson game – swimming all over the place, constantly on his back, and trying to roam out of his net. All things that he's terrible at but some how have become part of his game. Helle is a positional goalie that beats you without moving. Not sure what's made him abandon his ways but between him and Pionk who was on the ice for almost every goal in that wild game – for and against – the Jets chances of making the playoffs are not looking good. As for solutions, I really loved Laurent Brossoit in net for them last year, he had a 2.0 GAA, and a .927 S% and had 3 SO in 23 games (he also beat the Jets and Helle in the Playoffs two years ago with Vegas). They lost him in free agency to Chicago, trade Helle for LB… Ideally include pionk in that trade and try to bring Seth Jones over as well, and then look at moving Perfetti or Lambert for a 1B goalie and your solved lol.