The Connor Hellebuyck standoff has been framed all summer around trade value, no-move clauses and, most recently, a training camp suspension. According to Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun, none of that is what’s actually driving it.
Hellebuyck requested a trade from the Winnipeg Jets during exit meetings after a season in which the team went 35-35-12 and missed the playoffs, one year after finishing first overall. The assumption for months has been that a three-time Vezina Trophy winner simply wanted off a team going nowhere.
Why Connor Hellebuyck wants out
But writing on Sunday, Simmons said the roster has nothing to do with it.
“He wants out of Winnipeg, not because the Jets are lousy, but because his family apparently has been treated poorly by the local community,” Simmons wrote.
That lines up with what has come out over the past week. Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff confirmed at a press conference on Thursday that the club’s security team – and at times local police – had to get involved after Hellebuyck and his family were targeted with threats and hostile online messages. The abuse escalated after Connor Hellebuyck stopped 41 shots in Team USA’s 2-1 win over Canada in the Olympic gold medal game in Milan Cortina, with his wife, Andrea, reportedly subjected to the worst of it.
GM on Hellebuyck
Cheveldayoff said the organization arranged additional security and police presence but declined to go into specifics, and stopped short of linking the threats directly to the trade request, saying he couldn’t speak to how much of a role they played. Sources have since told the Winnipeg Free Press that the harassment “certainly played a part” in Hellebuyck wanting out.
Simmons also argued that the idea Hellebuyck won’t play anywhere in Canada is “senseless,” claiming he would report to the Edmonton Oilers or Montreal Canadiens “in a minute.” That’s one insider’s read, and it runs against what others have reported – both the Free Press and Elliotte Friedman have indicated Hellebuyck wants out of Canada altogether.
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Neither Canadian option looks especially practical anyway. Edmonton has a little over $1 million in cap space, with Frederik Andersen opening the season on injured reserve and Tristan Jarry coming off a season with a 3.86 goals-against average and an .858 save percentage. Montreal has closer to $3 million and a possible path by moving Samuel Montembeault’s $3.15 million cap hit, having watched Jakub Dobes take over the net as a rookie.
Hellebuyck was suspended on September 16 for failing to report to camp, becoming the first NHL player in 27 years to take that route. Captain Adam Lowry said afterward that the team “had an inkling” he wasn’t going to show up.
READ MORE: Kevin Cheveldayoff shuts down Connor Hellebuyck agreement talk
