Connor Hellebuyck and the Winnipeg Jets are staring down a split that insiders now say is coming, and soon.
Elliotte Friedman dropped the news Thursday night on 32 Thoughts, saying there's now recognition inside the league that a Hellebuyck trade "has to happen and is going to happen."
That's about as direct as an insider gets. No hedging. No "buts."
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This isn't some throwaway line buried in a mailbag either. Friedman doesn't use language like that unless something is already moving behind the scenes.
Hellebuyck carries an $8,500,000 cap hit. That number alone makes this a franchise-altering conversation, not a minor roster tweak.
Last season he posted a .895 save percentage across 57 appearances for Winnipeg. Respectable, not elite, and certainly not the kind of number that quiets trade speculation.
The Jets finished 35-35-12, good for 82 points and a goal differential of -29. Twenty-sixth overall in the league. That's a rough season by any measure.
Why Cheveldayoff now faces his toughest call in years
General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff has run the Jets since 2011. He's weathered plenty of storms. This might be the biggest.
Trading a franchise goaltender is never simple. Trading one with term remaining and this kind of cap number gets complicated fast, and public.
Winnipeg closed the year on a four-game skid, going 5-5-0 over its final ten. Not the sendoff a team wants heading into an off-season already full of noise.
Head coach Scott Arniel, hired back in May 2024, now inherits a locker room where the top storyline isn't the power play or the penalty kill. It's whether his starting goalie is even walking through the door in October.
Should the Jets trade Connor Hellebuyck this off-season?
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