Connor Hellebuyck wants out, and the Winnipeg Jets are already trying to get ahead of the fallout.
Elliotte Friedman addressed the situation directly on Monday's FAN Hockey Show, confirming the goaltender's trade request is real.
Friedman said the Jets have a really good group of players in that locker room right now.
And he said it matters to the organization that those players hear one thing loud and clear. Even if Hellebuyck gets traded, Winnipeg is not waving the white flag on this season.
Strong words. But the numbers behind them are rough.
The Jets finished last season 35-35-12, good for 82 points and 26th overall in the league standings.
They finished seventh in the Central Division and posted a goal differential of minus-29, outscored on a nightly basis for long stretches.
The $8.5 million question facing Kevin Cheveldayoff
Their final game of that season ended in a 1-6 loss to San Jose, part of a four-game skid to close things out.
Hellebuyck himself posted an 18-23 record with a .895 save percentage across 57 appearances, numbers that don't scream franchise cornerstone anymore.
His cap hit ranks fourth among all goaltenders in the league right now, real money tied to a player who wants a new address.
General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff has run this franchise since 2011. This might be the heaviest decision of his entire tenure.
Head coach Scott Arniel walks into training camp with his starting goaltender's name attached to trade rumors before puck drop even happens.
Trading a franchise goaltender rarely goes clean. It's like renovating a house with the family still living inside, somebody in that room ends up displaced before it's finished.
Whether Hellebuyck opens the season in a Jets sweater or somewhere else is still completely unresolved. But that group just got told exactly where the bar sits, whether they wanted to hear it or not.
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Should the Jets trade Connor Hellebuyck before the season even starts?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
Connor Hellebuyck rejected a trade and turns down six NHL teams, per Darren Dreger
